The Dominion rises
by tombstone199998
Summary: The dominion has stood strong for centuries since the Ethereal war, under the guidance of the Emperor the Terrans have risen beyond the wildest of dreams, what happens when they encounter the a race of council exiles in desperate need.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is unexpected, I know I said I would be rewriting the game of scrolls, but then I started to write this again, an before I knew it I had over 10.000 fix up in this chapter and another 2 new chapters, I discarded the old plan for this fic entirely, and have embraced a bit of that great grimdark warhammer40k feeling.**

 **So its my pleasure to welcome you all to the new and improved The Dominion Rises, with all new characters, a better story line, better tactics, a competent council, and Xcom/40kSpacemarines, this chapter is just a time line and a bit of Codexapdia on the navy and military, I would recommend rereading it because its basically completely different after the first few lines.**

 **I changed the unification war, the Calperty war, added another Terran race, changed the Legions completely along with Xcom as well, added more variety in ship classes and weapons, and droppods for you ODST lovers out there.**

 **Expect cameos by a lot of people, StarCraft, Star Wars, Code Geass, HALO, ASOIAF, and who knows who else I will put in because I don't…**

 **Now a quick disclaimer, I own no recognizable copyrighted characters or locations, I claim no right to any creation here except to what I have written myself, any OC used is my property unless he/she/it was submitted by a PM or a Review.**

 **All written while listening to Sabaton…**

 **Now Enjoy, Chapter one The Line of Time,**

…...

Chapter 1

 **01/03/2015 (Earth calendar)**

The Ethereal invasion of the earth begins with an attack on a German city (the name of the is city unknown, the alien invasion was, at the time, kept secret, the locations of many abductions in the beginning of the war are still unknown) Xcom was activated and Delta team was sent in to investigate the possibility of extraterrestrial attack, the only one to return was Delta 2 (identity unknown).

 **14/05/2015 (Earth calendar)**

The terror of Tokyo, the first alien terror attack on earth happens, the existents of hostile alien life is revealed to the public. Xcom is declassified to increase moral at the thought that humanity will be protected by their most skilled people.

 **30/06/2015 (Earth calendar)**

The first gene trooper's modification was performed, all Xcom troops are currently being modified with a variety of simple mods. Several MEC augmented troops were given their first MEC Suits. (see codexapedia for more information on MEC troops.)

 **29/11/2015 (Earth calendar)**

An alien battleship is sighted over the city of Amsterdam, it is led away by transponders placed on a train, this operation was heavily contested by alien troops, and is the first recorded encounter with Mutons, but Xcom Bravo team, led by colonel Harry "Odin" Smarts, managed to prevail despite severe injuries.

 **30/11/2015 (Earth calendar)**

3 hours after Bravo's operation, Alpha team led by Sarah "Purple Queen" Kerrigan boarded the alien battleship, destroying 6 Conduits setting the alien battleship down in an uninhabited area, a heavily defended Xcom base was quickly setup, salvaging and research begins.

 **25/02/2016 (Earth calendar)**

Xcom teams Alpha, Bravo and Charlie, where deployed to destroy the alien base, and in the words of Marrie "Smash" Kettleson: "bulldozed through the alien fuckers." A Strange alien artifact was found (later named the Hyperwave beacon by the research staff, see codexapedia for more information) and the corpse of the sectoid commander was recovered.

 **04/03/2016 (Earth calendar)**

Chrysalid infestations in Africa and South America are found and appear to be quickly spreading beyond control, Military bases and forts are set up to contain the rapidly growing infestation, but complete containment is proving difficult.

 **05/03/2016 (Earth calendar)**

The first Firestorm fighters are built, they are equipped with a fusion Lance and a Plasma Cannon, the first six are deployed, one in each continent another 12 are quickly put into production.

 **12/03/2016 (Earth calendar)**

Autopsy of the sectoid commander reveals a startling fact, what was once thought to be advanced technology used to give shields to mechtoids or cause panic in Xcom teams, was in fact psionics, the power of the mind (see codexapedia for more information) a new facility was constructed to test Xcom troops for Psionic Potential.

 **19/03/2016 (Earth calendar)**

Alpha team comes out of Psi testing they all appear to have at least minor psionic powers, however Sarah "Purple Queen" Kerrigan is noted to have powers far surpassing the others of her team.

 **03/04/2016 (Earth calendar)**

Xcom HQ is attacked by alien forces they are quickly repelled by the newly trained psionic Alpha team, in a shocking discovery the commander is found to have significant psionic powers displaying them when he, in anger, mind controlled a mechtoid and forced it to start killing its sectoid escorts. (How the commander was able to use Psi ability's is unknown)

 **14/06/2016 (Earth calendar)**

The Exalt headquarters is destroyed, the commander suspects that remnants are still around but Xcom must focus on the Alien threat.

 **14/07/2016 (Earth calendar)**

The Firestorm fighter craft now number 112, production is to continue indefinitely, as the fighters have proved extremely effective against alien ships.

 **23/09/2016 (Earth calendar)**

Construction on the Hyperwave Beacon facility are completed, when scanning Xcom HQ found a Hidden Alien craft in low orbit, a wing of five firestorms is sent to take it down. When Alpha team breached the control room of the splashed ship they found an alien unlike any they had encountered before, this Ethereal as it had been called seemed to give of a psionic presence far stronger than any before it. An alien device operated by the Ethereal is recovered (later named the gallop device by researchers) research begins immediately on advice of the commander who feels a faint but incredibly powerful presence emanating from the device.

 **24/09/2016 (Earth calendar)**

The temple ship arrives on the earth. Many governments, in their panic, increase funding to the Xcom project.

 **15/03/2017 (Earth calendar)**

Research on the gallop device is finished it seems to be Psionic amplifier capable of enhancing a psionics power tenfold. Sarah "Purple Queen" Kerrigan volunteers to use the device and lead the assault on the temple ship.

 **16/03/2017 (Earth calendar)**

The assault on the temple ship starts, all Xcom teams (Alpha-A1 to Zulu-Z6) are deployed along with large portions of NATO and BRICS military assets are deployed, most notably, the American, Russian, French, English and Chinese. It takes 3 days for the Xcom firestorms and Military aircraft to destroy the smaller alien ships protecting the temple ship. Xcom teams breach first while the military troops set up outposts for retreat, fire support and holding choke points.

It takes 3 weeks and 5 days for the Xcom teams, Alpha-A1, Bravo-A1 and Charlie-A1 to reach the inner part of the ship, and after taking down hundreds of sec and mechtoids, dozens of mutons, many drones and cyber disks, and destroying several sectopods, they enter the inner sanctum of the Uber-Ethereal, Sarah "Purple Queen" Kerrigan killed the Uber-Ethereal and as was later learned all other Ethereal then stopped the temple ship from becoming a black hole long enough for the Xcom teams and Military to retreat.

 **25/03/2017 (Earth calendar)**

Sarah Kerrigan was found in a crater in Mexico and quickly recovered by Xcom.

 **18/04/2017 (Earth calendar)**

Sectoids found by Humans seem to follow any commands and requests given, Humans are pleasantly surprised the sectiods are adept mechanics and maintain many machines without command. Thin-men are seen trying to blend into human society though many are handed over to Xcom when found, Xcom scientist find out that Thin-men and sectoids are clones all are genetically identical, DNA from both is taken and research into cloning the two now subservient races of alien is started.

The Mutons separated into tribes from what scientist speculate is that they were probably the most recent of the Ethereal slaves and that they were not as heavily genetically modified as the sectiods and thin-men yet.

The Muton tribes where quickly put into separate camps but there where many incidents and many Mutons where put down every day, they were to violent to control, research into cloning muton shock troops was considered but deemed to dangerous as they proved to be nearly uncontrollable and extensive genetic modification would take centuries.

 **2/07/2017 (Earth calendar)**

A coup in Russia installs a new imperial government, but the new Great Tsardom of Russia (GTR) only manages to take control of Russia west of the Ural Mountains in the east, and the Don to the south, the nation's south of the Don from the United Caucus Republics (UCR), the Crimea goes back to the Ukraine, losing Karelia and Kola to Finland, the Prussia area to Poland and Lithuania, and the lands west of the Urals to several dozen Warlords. The power of the GTR is estimated to be limited at best.

 **09/02/2018 (Earth calendar)**

The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) debates stepping in to subdue the Russian Warlords into Chinese rule, but pressure from India and the USA puts a halt to their plans, the world releases a relieved sigh.

Xcom continues efforts to secure alien artifacts, and with the support of the council makes it so that all items of alien origin official belong to Xcom, the law is not followed very closely, but sanctions are placed on the USA, Pakistan, Iran and The Netherlands for hording alien artifacts.

 **01/04/2018 (Earth calendar)**

Greece dissolves under economic pressure, Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria divide Macedonia, a new Imperialist government forms establishing the ruins of ancient Sparta as its capital, and takes control of all remaining Greek lands, they call themselves The Reborn Byzantine Empire (RBE).

Xcom manages to synthesize Elyrium, funding is lowered as the threat of another alien attack becomes lower, Xcom takes to selling small amounts of Elyrium to various Nations to pay for further research.

 **15/07/2018 (Earth calendar)**

Georgia joins the UCR after a referendum, the UK leaves the European Union (EU) and Scotland leaves the UK and joins the EU, the UK renames itself the England angering the northern Irish and Welsh.

A large amount of Alien weapons are being sold on the black market, Xcom suspects Exalt remnants are responsible, but the Counsel forbids them from actively pursuing the Remnants.

 **23/02/2019 (Earth calendar)**

Several border incidents along the border of Morocco and Algeria escalate into war, NATO decides to remain neutral, deploying Blue helms to ensure minimal civilian casualties, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) seizes the chance and takes control of the western Sahara, before signing a pact with the Algerians the Moroccans are on the back foot at the moment.

Xcom scientists have synthesized Meld, just in time as well as the gene-mods of Xcom soldiers were beginning to degrade, the commander starts research into finding a way to stop gene-mods from degrading.

 **15/05/2019 (Earth calendar)**

Moroccan forces are defeated at Rabat, the Treaty of Rabat forces Morocco to cede the High and Middle Atlas Mountains and all land east of it to Algeria, and cede the Anti-Atlas Mountains and all land south of it to the SADR, and it forces Morocco to acknowledge the SADR as an official government, the Treaty is approved by NATO and seen as lawful by all major powers.

French Guiana officially separates from France, a referendum among the populous is held to determine their new status, they join Suriname and Guiana in the newly formed Greater Guiana.

Xcom considers separating from the council after another funding cut forces them to sell more Elyrium.

 **23/10/2019 (Earth calendar)**

A Russian warlord by the name of Fridrik Alesnarovich drives his army into Kazakhstan after being defeated by a rival Warlord, he quickly topples the government and takes over the country to rebuild his army.

Tensions in the southern USA continue to rise rapidly, the national guard was deployed to stop several large riots and uprisings.

The RBE invades the Turkish Aegean islands, with their considerable navy, the Turkish are annoyed but the threat of the large RBE navy stops any retaliatory moves.

Armenia and Azerbaijan join the UCR, the UCR stops resource trade to Turkey and the GTR, starting economic crisis's in both countries.

 **19/01/2020 (Earth calendar)**

Spain leaves the EU after several diplomatic incidents and a coup that installs a highly aggressive military government, Xcom again suspects Exalt Remnants as the cause, but they are ignored, the tensions between Spain and France rise to an all time high, as several border conflicts appear.

Portugal and Spain pursue even closer relations, experts see a merging of governments in the future.

Poland and Lithuania form the Poland Lithuanian Commonwealth (PLC), to contest any GTR pressure into eastern Europe.

Xcom manages to synthesize Alien Alloy, increasing their reserves of the metal exponentially.

 **03/02/2020 (Earth calendar)**

The second American civil war starts, between the southern confederates (SC), the northern union (NU), and the west coast New California Republic (NCR), the army and air-force is evenly split between them but the navy remains neutral.

Spain and Portugal merge into the Iberian Federation (IF), France declares war on the IF, fighting in pyrenes is thought and neither side makes much progress.

Belarus joins the PLC. The PLC annexes Slovakia and occupies eastern Ukraine, up to the Dnieper river, in an attempt to block off any future expansion by the GTR

The GTR invades Finland, Estonia and Larvia forcing the countries to accept annexation, the remaining Scandinavian nations form the Second Kalmar Union (SKU) in defense against any possible GTR attack.

Fridrik Alesnarovich and his rebuilt army move south, pushing through Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan without much opposition before attacking both Iran and Afghanistan.

Northern Ireland rejoins Ireland after seceding from the England.

The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg merge into the Benelux, after a marriage unites their royal houses.

Austria and Hungary reunite, forming the second Austro-Hungarian empire (AHE) they invade and annex Czechia.

Xcom separates from the council, and starts hunting the Exalt Remnants, fearing them setting off nuclear weapons, Xcom infiltrators begin disarming Nuclear arsenals worldwide.

 **28/01/2021 (Earth calendar)**

The PRC moves in to subdue Russian war lords, India and Japan protest this and they form the Pacific Defense Pact (PDP) to oppose them, war between PDP and the PRC erupts.

Exalt Remnants are destroyed, Xcom starts to infiltrate the military of various nations, after disarming all nuclear weapons.

A bombing in Berlin kills all of the German leadership, the largest cities each attempt to set up a new government.

 **09/01/2022 (Earth calendar)**

The Benelux calls for a convention over Germany, inviting several surrounding great powers, the SKU, PLC, and AHE to Amsterdam, they dived Germany the Benelux annexes the Rhineland, Saarland, Hesse, Westphalia, Bremen and Lower Saxony, renaming itself to the Rhine Empire (RE), The AHE establishes a puppet south Germany in Bavaria and Baden and Thuringia whilst annexing Saxony, the SKU annexes Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Mecklenburg, the PLC annexes Brandenburg, and Anhalt, leaving berlin as an independent city state under heavy influence of the Austrians and Polish.

The GTR invades the Ukraine and starts a border war with the Russian warlords.

The RBE and UCR invade turkey, the RBE also seizes control of all former Greek territory in the balkans. Turkey falls within a month, the RBE annexes all former Byzantine territories in Anatolia.

Xcom starts to reactivate several Alien battleships and begins recruiting deserters and civilians from around the world, firestorms are upgraded for bombing operations, Xcom infiltrators start sabotaging military operations around the globe.

 **14/05/2022 (Earth calendar)**

Xcom covertly seizes control of Fridrik Alesnarovichs army, The Unending Horde (TUH) the Russian warlord was killed and his second in command, an established Xcom infiltrator, took his place, the TUH invasion into Iran and Pakistan is called off, but leaves both countries devastated, Xcom directs the TUH north-east, into GTR territory.

Sensing weakness the SKU, PLC and UCR attack the GTR.

 **22/09/2022 (Earth calendar)**

Crystalid infestations in the amazon cause all south American to combine their armed forces into the South American Defense Pact (SADP) to combat the Crystalids.

Egypt invades Sudan, mass conflict around the middle east and Afrika soon follows

Xcom starts training the first group of Ghost operatives, out of the 10.000 possible recruits none pass the second trial.

Xcom commander James "Jim" Raynor and Sarah "Lady Grey" marry.

 **06/10/2022 (Earth calendar)**

Italy and the AHE attack the RBE in a war of containment.

Xcom begins construction of Main battle tanks, with integrated SHIV AI, a massive plasma cannon, two rapid fire double barrel laser turrets and a plasma flak gun, it will be just as fast as an average tank despite its larger size.

Xcom starts producing Walkers based of innervations gain by studying the Ethereal Sectopods, working as fast scouts piloted by an advanced SHIV AI, they can walk on all terrain with 2 large legs, and will be equipped with a duel barrel plasma turret, moving at an average speed of 50kph on flat terrain.

Xcom starts building ravager class bombers, a bulkier version of the firestorm, the ravager is faster than the firestorm and has a plasma turret at its back it is equipped with a pair of heavy fusion lances modified for maximum power and can carry up to 12 bombs.

 **1/02/2023 (Earth calendar)**

Xcom takes over the Rhine Empire via a convert coup, using well placed infiltrators to seize control of the RE military, and deploying their own recruits to merge with the RE army, equipping both with laser weapons and carapace armor, they remain at peace for the moment.

 **30/11/2022 (Earth calendar)**

Xcom invades France and the IF, using 5 fully retrofitted alien Battleships, Xcom infiltrators quickly take control of large parts of the military of both nations.

The Commander names his new nation the Terran Dominion, and himself the Emperor of all of mankind, the army of all conquered nations are renamed to Legions, while Xcom teams retain their Xcom designation.

 **25/12/2022 (Earth calendar)**

A Dominion Battleship along with a legion subdues the British nations at the same time another Dominion Battleships and three legions push through the Alps into Italy, Switzerland joins the Dominion after a referendum, the remaining 3 Battleships push through the PLC, taking Warsaw and integrating the PLC into the Terran Dominion.

 **13/01/2023 (Earth calendar)**

The Dominion brings another 3 Battleships online, the SKU submits to the Dominion.

The TUH has fully occupied the GTR north of Moscow, Dominion and Horde troops join together, the south of Russia is under control of UCR, while the RBE has control of the Balkans and Turkey.

Dominion Battleships move across the Mediterranean, capturing northern Afrika.

 **9/02/2023 (Earth calendar)**

Legionaries push through the Balkans in a single push straight for the RBE capital of New Sparta, forcing the nation to capitulate, again Xcom infiltrators manipulate large portions of the Military into inaction or outright joining the Dominion.

At the same time Dominion Battleships crush all UCR resistance and fully occupy the country.

 **19/04/2023 (Earth calendar)**

The Dominion finishes its conquest of Afrika, all its nations are integrated into the Terran Dominion.

 **20/06/2023 (Earth calendar)**

The Dominion conquers the Middle east, while at the same time subduing the Russian warlords, and starting an invasion of the PRC, the PDP formally joins the Dominion, experts says the PRC will hold out for at least another month.

 **08/08/2023 (Earth calendar)**

The Dominion has full control over Europe, Asia, Afrika, and Oceania the Emperor begins to consolidate his power whilst planning the invasion of the Americas, he manages to silence all political opposition.

Another 4 Battleships are brought into operation.

 **22/11/2023 (Earth calendar)**

SADP nations submit to the Dominion on the condition that all Chrysalid infestation are to be destroyed, Legions soon land and begin purging Chrysalids, experts estimate that it would take at least 10 years before all traces of Chrysalids are fully destroyed.

 **10/04/2024 (Earth calendar)**

Legionaries finally subdue north America, after massive displays of military might the dominion was able to stop the ongoing civil war.

 **28/08/2024 (Earth calendar)**

The last independent nations join the Terran dominion.

Terraforming of the earth begins, plans are to turn the earth in to an Eden, jungles are replanted, animals threatened with extinction are cloned and reintroduced to their natural habitats, the Sahara is the target of many a re-watering project, and plans are made for the capitol of the Terran Dominion, a city the size of Australia floating on the Atlantic named Atlantis.

Construction is estimated to take 150 years to finish, the city would be made up of a single large island surrounded by 2 large ring-shaped islands, the central island would be finished in 50 years the first ring 50 years after that, the last ring 50 years after the second. Drones and Sectoids would be deployed on mass as the drones were redesigned and re-equipped with construction in mind, able to float in the air and dive underwater indefinitely they are perfect for construction work.

The sectoids are born engineers and mechanics following orders to the point, and now that the cloning bays were pumping out over a hundred sectoids a day they could be used as cheap efficient labor. Of course, there would still be human workers there as well, not only to oversee the sectoids, but also as workers, the Emperor found that creating jobs would help the people of different countries reconcile, it would also create many new jobs.

 **01/01/2025 (Earth calendar)/ 01/01 1st Year of our Great Emperor.**

The Emperor institutes a new world-wide calendar, leaving the announcement to his wife, who promptly changes the names.

 **15/07 2nd Year of our Great Emperor.**

Meld synthesizing is made more efficient, this causes civilian gene mods to be made far more affordable they quickly become commonplace there is a near endless list of options, but most are cosmetic changes, military grade modifications are now made mandatory for all staff.

Artificial wombs are invented, they will allow parents, even those of the same gender to create a "customized" child.

 **30/05 11th Year of our Great Emperor.**

Xcom scientist find a way to indefinitely prolong the life of a human using a meld production organ placed inside the chest cavity, the operation is deemed to dangerous for public use, and the mod was only given to those selected by the Emperor and Empress.

Psionics have become far more common among humans, after extensive research it became known that every human had some form of psionic power, the psi scaling method (see codexapedia for scaling) was developed and basic psi-training became a mandatory school subject all around the world, those with immense psionic potential would be recruited into Xcom.

 **01/05 44th Year of our Great Emperor.**

With the construction of the Atlantis central island, named The Crown by the Emperor, for the skyscrapers surrounding the great garden of fountains that in turn, surrounded the Imperial palace, now nearly complete, the Earths terraforming in full blow and space for comfortable living on the earth becoming sparser, due to the increased population growth, caused by the new artificial wombs, the Emperor found it time to expand, the reactivated Ethereal battleships were to made space worthy to allow for clearing of the remaining ring of Ethereal ship in orbit to allow for the terraforming and colonization of the sol system.

 **01/06 44th Year of our Great Emperor.**

The refit took only a month, and the ships took to orbit filled with Xcom teams to scout the alien craft, they found that many of the craft were torn apart by enraged mutons. Most however were still intact waiting for orders, the Terran fleet expanded by: 14 battleships, 31 abductors, 73 supply barges, 224 large scouts and 761 small scouts all maned by sectoids and Thin-men, the outsiders often encountered by Xcom teams at splashed UFO's were not found at all, most scientist speculated that, like the other aliens, they were psionically connected to the Ethereals and disappeared when the Uber-Ethereal was killed.

Salvage of the destroyed alien ships began swiftly and within a year Earth's orbit would be cleared of alien debris. Colonization and terraforming of the moon began immediately, plans vary from turning it into a single giant city to turning it into the HQ of the dominion Military.

 **28/12 46th Year of our Great Emperor.**

The Crown of Atlantis is finished, the royal family, now consisting of the Emperor James Raynor, Empresses Sarah Raynor and their daughter Laura Raynor, move into the Imperial Palace. People from all over the world moved into the Crown, the city a shining glorious star.

The Colonies on the moon, newly renamed Luna reached 5 million through a rapid rise though it still held now candle to earths 39 billion it was a start however. Terraforming of Mars began 3 weeks before, it would take at least 40 years before it would be able to sustain an earth like population. Though it would be able to sustain billions in just 5 years.

The Bespin Project was greenlit by the emperor, floating city's in the atmosphere of Venus at a just habitable height, assembled in orbit then lowered to the planet each on able to hold 7.5 billion and made to mine the mineral rich atmosphere of Venus, 15 where to be build, the first would be finished in 60 years.

Localized terraforming was authorized on the moons of Saturn and Jupiter to allow for mining of the gas giants below. Several large asteroids and planetoids in the asteroid belt where set for colonization for their valuable minerals.

With Terran forces soon too have multiple colonies to protect, the need for ships was presented while the alien ships are more than capable of protecting the colonies and where maintained by the sectoids, the battleship would need a dock to be repaired, orbital shipyards were to be constructed for use of repair and construction.

At this time, Empress Sarah Kerrigan preformed the first instance of Ftl travel, while she in her words was "messing around with her psionics." She entered another dimension of dark and pressing power, before appearing on another floor of the palace barely a second later. After several weeks of experimentation Xcom scientists send a ship to mars and back in less than five minutes using a team of psionics, they speculate that using a small gallop device to decrease the amount of psionics required to transport an object would be possible.

While it was considered to build more Ethereal ships, Humanity would need their own designs, the Emperor, a huge fan of the old Star Wars trilogy, suggested building the ships in a dagger shape like the star destroyers of the empire in the movies. He was ecstatic when he found out that the engineers confirmed that a dagger shape would be an efficient shape for a capital ship for it would allow for more guns to be aimed at a target from most angels. Construction on the first human made ships began immediately. (see codexapedia for ship calcifications)

 **16/05 121th Year of our Great Emperor.**

The old alien fleet has been completely replaced with the new human dagger shaped ships (see codexapedia for specifications and classes) and the first colonies outside the sol system had reached 5 billion in population currently there where 12 colonies outside the sol system each guarded by their own small fleet and each had at least one GOL (Ground to Orbit Lance)

 **11/03 152th Year of our Great Emperor.**

The first recorded instance of a shroud storm, disrupting FTL travel in the Primus sector, rioting causes damage to the sectors capital, and the riots and unrest isn't put down until the Dominion Navy arrives 3 weeks later after the storm ended.

 **13/07 144th Year of our Great Emperor.**

The first psionic shields are developed on ships and infantry. It was simple for infantry to use as it was just a separate psionic amplifier that required but a small bit of attention, for ships it was harder to implement as it requires the full focus of several powerful psionics to power a shield large enough to cover a ship.

 **25/11 162th Year of our Great Emperor.**

The last buildings in the outer ring of Atlantis are finished the massive city is finely finished housing an impressive 107 billion people in homes ranging in size form free standing houses on the crown to large underwater apartment buildings in the rings it is perhaps the greatest creation mankind ever made.

 **26/11 214th Year of our Great Emperor.**

Human colonists encounter their first dextro based world, gene mods that allow consumption of dextro based food is developed swiftly.

 **19/11 255th Year of our Great Emperor.**

A primitive species is discovered on a system on the edge of human territory, they call themselves the twi'leks, and are remarkably human like, they are bipeds with a very humanoid body type, the biggest difference is the head tails which scientist speculate contain a part of their brain and their skin color which ranges from blue to red to green and yellow with even the rare shade of purple.

Psionic potential is tested and found to be varying from pre-Ethereal human level to slightly above average humans, overall a slightly psionicly weaker species.

The twi'leks appear to be just entering their species atomic age, uplifting as a member race begins immediately.

 **14/04 272th** **Year of our Great Emperor.**

A second alien race is found named the Raoly, a species of planetoids (sentient plants), they are green skinned plants able to take different shapes usually those of other species, copying there looks completely except for their green colored skin and clothes made of leaves and flowers. They are found to have no psionic potential.

Uplifting begins quickly.

 **25/01 315th Year of our Great Emperor.**

Twi'leks and Raoly are fully integrated into human society their combined population is now 20% of the Terran Dominion.

 **03/11 357th Year of our Great Emperor**

The official end of the post Ethereal population boom is made official. The Terran Dominion now numbers 373 colonies in 226 systems, there are 406 billion humans, 69 billion Twi'leks and 46 billion Raoly.

 **09/05 387th Year of our Great Emperor**

Contact is made with a hostile spacefaring race of aliens.

The Calperty a race of small centipede like creatures serving under a hivemind, they are small but merge together to create terrifying monstrous creatures, they create ships of biomatter that use acid as a powerful projectile weapon, but they are fairly limited in space compared to the Dominion, they did however outnumber the fleet 3 to 1.

The first encounter resulted in the complete destruction of a dominion scout group of 24 corvettes 8 frigates and 3 cruisers, they destroyed 151 enemy ships ranging in size from corvettes to cruisers, this is seen as the official start of the Calperty war.

 **03/06 387th Year of our Great Emperor**

A dominion battle group led by one of the first Dominion-I class Star Destroyers engaged a Calperty war fleet losing only 5 corvettes and a frigate whilst destroying over 500 Calperty ships.

 **05/08 387th Year of our Great Emperor**

A Calperty attack destroys the Colony of Poseidon-III in the Hellas sector, its defense fleet forced to retreat, the attack cost an estimated 12.3 Billion Terran lives.

 **1/12 387th Year of our Great Emperor**

Dominion Warfleet II destroys Calperty fleet over Poseidon-III, allowing the new Acclimators to land on world in mass, they find nothing but destroyed cities and waves of Calperty, they were unfortunately forced to fall back, Warfleet 1 on command of the Emperor initiates Exterminatus protocol, unleashing their plasma cannons and fusion lances on the planet, wiping it clean of life in 5 hours.

 **03/02 388th Year of our Great Emperor**

Mass production on the new Dominion-II class Star Destroyers begins in the Vulcan shipyards above Mars, the Dominion begins looking into solutions for the Calperty numbers.

 **23/04 388th Year of our Great Emperor**

Warfleets I trough V begin the assault on a Calperty hive world, codename the Nest under the leadership of the Empress, the operation is a resounding success, over 6500 Calperty ships were destroyed by the 1000 Dominion ships, who lost just under 300 ships, the Empress initiates Exterminatus protocol upon the Nest.

 **12/10 388th Year of our Great Emperor**

The first 20 Dominion-II's finish construction, Vulcan Shipyards are given new orders, to begin construction on the first ever Star Dreadnought, Codename Hyperion.

 **30/01 389th Year of our Great Emperor**

A large Calperty fleets Destroy Warfleet III all hands are lost. Intelligence suggest the use of new bigger Calperty ships supported by thousands of new smaller craft.

 **18/05 388th Year of our Great Emperor**

The Hyperion finishes construction, at an impressive 8.4 KM long it is the biggest ship ever built by the Dominion, it will join Warfleet 1 under the direct control of the Emperor.

 **15/07 388th Year of our Great Emperor**

Warfleet 1 Exterminates an infested sector before being forced to retreat by a massive Calperty fleet of 10.000 ships, including a 10 Km long battleship, it is given the codename Prime, as several Xcom scientists suspect it houses a large portion of the Calperty mind, they theorize destroying it will cripple Calperty space warfare, at least for a little while.

 **23/11 388th Year of our Great Emperor**

The Calperty launch a massive offensive against the galactic south of dominion space, over 3000 dominion ships are destroyed, and 45 colonies are destroyed before the combined force of Warfleets 1 to 6 are able to destroy the massive Calperty fleet.

 **12/01 389th Year of our Great Emperor**

A Dominion counter offensive led by the Hyperion, and the newly build Leviathan, assault the main Calperty base in the south a massive space station thus finally driving the Calperty back to only the western front, casualties appear to be in the millions.

 **3/06 389th Year of our Great Emperor**

The western front is reinforced by the powerful new Acclimator-II class ships now equipped with an Ion cannon that temporarily disables Calperty FTL, this allows the Dominion to destroy many more Calperty fleets.

 **16/10 390th Year of our Great Emperor**

Warfleet I finally reaches the Calperty home system engaging Prime, the 10KM ship falls to the combined fire from over 24 star-destroyers, the Hyperion, the Leviathan and their support fleets only after 4 hours of bombardment.

 **5/01 391th Year of our Great Emperor**

The last traces of the Calperty are destroyed or in Xcom custody.

The population had seen a significant drop during the war as several worlds were destroyed as they were consumed. The Terran population now numbers 364 billion humans, 32 billion Twi'leks and 29 billion Raoly, a new population boom starts.

 **20/11 442th** **Year of our Great Emperor.**

Another spacefaring species is found, the Dominion is understandably nervous after the last contact with the Calperty. The species calls itself the khajiit, they are bipedal catlike mammalians having just started to expand in their own star system, when offered to be made a member species of the dominion they accepted their population is still small only 21 billion spread over their small star system. They are found to have little psionic potential.

Xcom scientist note that most species capable of intelligent thought have evolved to bipeds, they speculate that it could be the most versatile skeletal structure for using tools and thus evolving to hunter gatherers.

 **07/12 473th** **Year of our Great Emperor.**

The planet Viridian was colonized, a large unknown object is found in distant orbit around the planets star, Xcom scientists and a small patrol fleet were put into the system, while a fortress class defense station (see codexapedia for more information) was constructed near the object.

With sensor reading from the Xcom scientists, the dominion was able to confirm that there were more of these object in orbit of several systems in Terran space, one was even found encased in ice, inside the sol system, all were quickly put under guard by patrol fleets, the one found in the sol system was guarded continuously by 7 fortress class defense stations.

 **12/07 498th year of our Great Emperor.**

A new species is discovered in the outer reaches of dominion space they appear to have once possessed space flight and have since that time regressed to one planet after never successfully making a ftl transit they call themselves Togrutas and their amazing similarities to the twi'leks is analyzed, they are nearly the same as if they were the same species put on different planets.

Xcom scientists speculate that one of the Togrutas attempts at space travel was successful but unable to report its success, the colonist settled on what now is the Twi'lek home-world, but without support and help from the Togrutas government slowly, over many generations, evolved into the twi'leks. Uplifting to a member species begins immediately with a large amount of support from the Twi'leks.

 **26/11 529th year of our Great Emperor.**

This day marks the start of the largest rebellion in the Dominion, rebellions were a common thing, one happening at least every month, but most were just on the scale of a planet at most, this was a rebellion meticulously planned for decades, and executed swiftly, the Emperor was poisoned with a bio engineered toxin and bedridden. Several sectors rebelled, almost splitting the dominion in half and the war fleets were deployed for the first time since the Calperty war, the Empress's and her own flagship **The Leviathan** led them, the rebellion lasted for five years.

 **03/03 567th year of our Great Emperor.**

The Emperor's religious following continues to grow rapidly, with most of Dominion space revering him as a god, worship of the emperor has replaced nearly all religions.

 **01/05 575th year of our Great Emperor.**

This day marks the raid on the last pirate stronghold in known space. As the 5th 7th and 12th war fleets surrounded the frozen tundra world and began exterminatus protocols for the first time since the Calperty war, they destroyed the pirate infested world.

 _(emperor level classification recognized, all information made available)_

 _ **09/12 596th year of our Great Emperor.**_

 _The ethereal home world was found by a science team surveying in the outskirts of dominion space, it was filled with charred Ethereals, destroyed buildings and crashed ships it appears they were attacked and destroyed by an enemy even their technology could not beat._

 **17/05 640th year of our Great Emperor.**

Strange activity from a tuning gate (mass relay) orbiting the planet Meridian, science ships are sent to investigate the sectors patrol fleets are put on alert, the planets defense fleet is reinforced and construction on the fortress class defense station is increased to the point where it will be done in half a month.

…...

 **Codexapedia entries:**

 **MEC-troopers:**

The current generation of MEC-troopers are not only far more efficient than the original, the operation to augment them requires far less sacrifice, now MEC augmented troopers are now able to connect to their MEC suit with only 12 connection points that are implanted into the Troopers nerve system. Allowing them to control their MEC-suits without having to lose 80% of their organic body. MEC-troopers are only used by Xcom.

…...

 **MEC-Suits:**

The current generations of MEC-suits are far more powerful and efficient, the newer MEC-suits are all equipped with Liquefied elyrium fueled flamethrowers mounted on the right arm, a KSM (kinetic strike module) on the left arm, a projectile launcher mounted on the center of the MEC suits back able to launch grenades, mines and mortar shells, a jet boot module, advanced repair servos and EMP system, though most Xcom MEC-troopers switch their equipment around as they need it. MEC-troopers are only used by Xcom.

…...

 **Hyperwave beacons:**

The primary communication system used in the Terran Dominion, the exact way it works is unknow to all but a few scientist and officials. It is however known that it allows near instant communication, even across the entirety of the Terran Dominion.

…...

 **Psionics and their classifications:**

Psionics, the power of the mind, long speculated about and proved true, halfway through the Ethereal war. Now all humans are at least minor psionics and training was made mandatory at all elementary schools long ago. The most basic psionic technique is the melding of minds, it shares emotions and surface thought, though more powerful psionics could do far more.

The classifications of psionics are based on expertise in the four main groups of psionics classed P1 to P11 tough there are only four recorded cases of P11 psionics. Most humans are classed as P6 to P9. Most Twi'leks are classed P2 to P8. The Raoly have a universal P class of 1. The Khajiit are P classed P4 to P5. Togrutas have are P classed P5 to P9.

…...

 **The Emperor's doctrine:**

The Emperor's doctrine is the separation of the ground forces of the Terran Dominion, into three separate groups, still under the main command structure, but used in different situations

The militia: civilians and residents recruited from a colony to defend their home most are un gene modded or at least have no combat gene mods. Equipped with stander issue MK III Gauss-rifles, scopes, and Nano-fiber vests.

The legion: professional soldiers trained and given basic military gene mods. Equipped with standard issue MK III Gauss-rifles, at least in practices all legions have the same basic equipment, however quality and training varies based on their home world, most legions are heavily specialized some use the standard mobile infantry tactics, some are mountain experts, some use mass amounts of artillery, some are made up complete of armored vehicles, and a rare few are know for their ability too do orbital drops.

Xcom: The elite of the elite they are all specialized heavily gene modded teams and answer directly to the emperor. Xcom troops used to be separated into specific classes, but since the Calperty war most Xcom troops just continue using their preferred style of combat after being recruited into Xcom, the only real constant is the use of plasma weapons, as all Xcom troops have access to the rare weapons.

…...

 **Armored vehicles and SHIV units:**

The MK III Orion main battle tank: a large 4 track tank, it uses a one-barrel multi-purpose gun as its main weapon, along with 4 smaller laser turrets, 2 always able to shoot at any target. It is able to lock itself down to act as a artillery platform, with limited range, this does however leave it immobile and weak to counter battery and aircraft fire.

The MK IV Raptor support tank: a midsize 2 track tank build to assist the Orion in assaults, being able to fire its quad linked AAA/Anti-infantry turret and its tank destroyer mount fusion lance, this tank primarily serves as a ambush or defense unit however thanks to its relatively slow turn rate and usefulness as an AAA platform.

The MK XXXIX Halftrack: the newest halftrack is designed to take infantry from one side of the battlefield to another quickly, using 2 tracks and a secondary hover system, it also has a tri-barrel laser cannon mounted on its top to deal with infantry and small aircraft.

The MK VIII Wraith SHIV: is the evolution of the ethereal seeker drone, used as a combat scout and saboteur, able to cloak from both sensors and sight it comes equipped with 4 plasma charges that it can place for ambushes or use to destroy vehicles, some of these drones are know to come equipped with a fusion lance that could be used to assassinate enemy commanders.

The MK V Hellhound light support SHIV: the hellhound is a buggy sized, four-legged, wolf shaped SHIV, carrying ammo and supplies for several squads, it also has 3 tri barrel laser turrets for covering fire. Its 4 legs allow it to move at immense speed no matter the terrain, the claws on the legs allow it to even scale buildings and mountains.

The MK II Marauder Heavy assault Platform: The Marauder is the largest Vehicle used by the Legion, a street sized 10 legged walker mounted with 8 Orion Multi-purpose guns, 18 quad-linked AAA batteries, and last but not least a capital ship fusion lance mounted on its top, the Marauder is a rare vehicle among the legions, used only by those legions who specialize in heavy vehicles, and thus is a massive sign of prestige for the few legions able to use it in combat.

The MK II SHIS (super heavy infantry suit): made to be the legions equivalent of the MEC-suits the SHIS is a Large humanoid battle suit, with SHIV VI assists the legionary inside thus making him or her able to control the battle suit easily. It is about 2.5 meters tall and wields a tri-barrel Laser Cannon usually used as defensive turrets on vehicles, the production of this has seen large portest by the Knights ho fear that the legion is attempting to take over their role in combat.

The MK III Viking (mech form): the Viking is a mech/air-fighter made to assist legionary's during planetary assault in its mech mode it uses 2 plasma miniguns mounted on its arms. It stands 4 meters tall.

The Knight suits: this is the term used to refer to highly customized battle mechs used by the First In Orbital Drop Storm Troopers (FIODST), these suits are dropped from high orbit directly into enemy formations to wreak havoc and destruction, or are used to secure landing sites for other forces, they are limited in number mainly because of the long training it takes to pilot one, taking into account that a positive link must be formed with the Knights AI first, this means that Knights are highly respected and incredibly well trained.

 **XCOM specific vehicles and SHIVS, very limited in availability.**

The MK III Mammoth Heavy battle tank: the mammoth is used by XCOM as its main heavy combat vehicle and is the most common of XCOM vehicles, though its still limited in numbers, it is a well-rounded vehicle 50% bigger then the Orion with more advanced weapons and a far better shield but is not able to act as field artillery like the Orion, it has a Heavy fusion lance as its primary gun, along with 5 small Tri-barrel plasma turrets.

The MK V Saber-cat SHIV: an evolution of the first SHIV units this walker can use its 4 catlike legs to run at an impressive 150 kmph, on its back is a chain plasma turret, it also has a Blaster Launcher inside its maw, able to easily destroy an entire floor, it is the most common of XCOM's SHIV units.

The MK II Behemoth Titan: measuring 50M long by 30M wide by 25M high the behemoth is the largest land vehicle used by the dominion, using a star-destroyers Tri-barrel fusion-lance turret, 18 tri-barrel plasma cannons, 30 multi-purpose guns from Orion tanks, 24 quad-barrel anti-air laser and its own Elyrium reactor stripped from an Acclimator along with a shielded landing pad for a Spaceranger and 6 Vikings, it has both Psi-shields and energy shields, only a few dozens of these are in circulation.

The MK III SH-MEC: standing an impressive 10 meters tall this MEC was designed to allow Xcom to have its own pseudo Knights, the only real difference being that these machines are nearly twice as tall and far more heavily armed and armored, using massive weapons to destroy infantry and vehicles.

…...

 **Legions:**

A standard legion does not exist, this is a simple fact, every legion recruited has a specialization, be it either jungle or urban warfare, mechanized infantry or artillery barrages, all have a preferred way of making war, this does not mean that a legion that prefers fast paced mechanized units will be unable to fight a defense in the mountains, they will however not preform as well as lets say a legion who was raised on a mountainous mining world.

…...

 **PSI-Cohort:**

Made up of 500 powerful psionics split into battalions of 100, and then into battlegroups of 25, which are then separated into units of 5, these are highly monitored, and controlled formations separate from other legions and commands, some planets are able to field dozens of these Cohorts, while some can't even fill a single one.

…...

 **Exterminatus protocol:**

The burning of a world is a terrible thing only to be done at times where nothing can be salvaged and only to be otherized by a member of the royal family, a grand Admiral in command of a Star-Dreadnought, or a high-ranking member of X-com command. If the order is given by any other, he or she will be executed by their second in command after the completion of the operation, so far only 2 officers have ordered this without permission.

…...

 **Ships and classifications:**

The dominion fleet is made of many ships large and small. The classification of ships in the dominion is done by the length of the ship in question.

 **Fighters, bombers, and other small craft 1 – 25M:**

The Mk IV Hellfyre class Fighters: descendent of the original firestorm fighters the Hellfyre class fighters are the primary fighter craft used by the Terran dominion they are equipped with 2 MK III heavy plasma repeaters, 2 MK VII light fusion lances and able to carry 4 plasma bombs or torpedoes. It looks similar to the firestorm only in a sharper shape, with a more heavily armored front.

The Mk V Ravager class Bombers: The first models were made just before the Unification war, this old bomber has been a main stay of Dominion tactics, they have a rotary plasma cannon mounted on its front, a double barrel plasma cannon turret on its back, while it carries 10 plasma bombs or torpedoes in each its 4 bays.

The MK VI Spaceranger class Transport: based on the old skyranger form the Ethereal war, the Spaceranger is capable of carrying up to 10 men, and has since the Calperty wars been used primarily by the legions as Xcom stepped over to the new drop-pod designs for its assaults.

The MK III Viking (fighter form): the Viking in this form has a fusion lance and 2 rotary plasma cannons mounted on its wings it is mainly used to support ground troops, using its fighter-form to move across a battlefield.

 **Corvettes 25 – 200M:**

The Mk III Tristan Class troop transport 200M: the Tristan class troop transport has been in service since the Calperty war, when it was first needed to carry large amounts of infantry down into hot landing zones, heavily armored and with good shielding the Tristan class troop transport can carry 1000 legionaries down to their landing zone even under heavy fire and then be used as a forward outpost with its 2 top and 4 side mounted turrets. It is shaped like a large brick with its superstructure able to withstand direct capital ship bombardment for a time.

The MK I Wraith Class Heavy interceptor 75M: made to be a cruiser hunter the Wraith packs a impressive punch for its size, its Fusion Lance able to pierce the toughest armor it is however weak to concentrated fire as its shields are only fueled by a small crew of 5, its most common deployment is as a bomber against heavily armored targets for ground troops. Being a very new ship, the Wraiths are not deployed on large scales, it looks mostly like an old earth stealth bomber.

The MK IV Neptune Class Strike Corvette 150M:

A small strike corvette made to deal with fighters, carrying 10 single-barrel Laser Cannons, it also carries 2 single barrel plasma turrets to deal with frigates, it gets its name from its trident like shape.

 **Frigates 200 – 550M:**

The MK VII Crusader class patrol-Frigate 250M: Armed with ten single barrel plasma cannons, the Crusader class patrol-frigates were designed for use against starfighters, bombers, and pirate vessels. Unlike its older variants, the MK VII is also able to effectively fight other frigates using its ship length fusion lance.

The MK III broadside Class Torpedo-Frigate 500M: The Broadside-class shared a common keel design with the Gladiator-class. Designed for long-range engagements, ships of this class have light armor and unimpressive acceleration and maneuverability. They are armed with plasma torpedo launchers and four plasma cannons. They are usually only deployed in defense and war fleets.

The MK VI Arquitens class frigate 325M:

The smallest of dominion front line ships the Arquitens carries 8 double barrel plasma turrets and 1 broadside fusion lance on each side, the fusion lances can fire forward as well for long range engagements as with all other front-line vessels. It can carry 4 fighters in its hanger.

The MK II ironclad medium frigate 450M:

Carrying a far larger number of weapons than the Arquitens the ironclad is one of the most common front-line ship in the war fleets, armed with 14 double barrel Plasma turrets, 24 point defense lasers and 2 broadside fusion lances on each side, the Ironclad also has far better shields and a thicker hull. It has the standard dagger shape of the star destroyer only far smaller. It can carry 8 fighters.

The MK II gladiator class light carrier 500M:

The gladiator is the smallest carrier in the dominion fleet having little for weapons it is based only around its large for its size hanger. It carries 6 plasma turrets and it can carry 15 fighters and 1 Spaceranger in its hangers.

 **Cruisers 550 – 1000M:**

The MK V Mercury class light cruiser 550M:

The Mercury class fills the gap between frigates and cruisers, filling both the roles of an anti-bomber screening ship as well as a frontline knife fighting ship, using its 20 tri barrel Plasma turrets, 36 point defense lasers and 6 broadside fusion lances to engage ships in close combat, it also has a single ship length Laser cannon able to fire at extreme ranges.

The MK VII Acclamator class assault ship 750M:

Once used as a troop transport in the Calperty war the Acclamator has seen major refits and form MK V and up are classed as a capitol ship escort ship. The Acclamator MK VII is used in patrol, defense, and war fleets. Often seen as the most versatile ship in the Dominion the Acclamator has 24 tri barrel plasma turrets, 42 point defense lasers, 8 broadside fusion lances and a EMP cannon running half the length of the ship. It can carry 20 fighters and 4 Spacerangers in its hangers.

The Mk V Luna class Strike cruiser 800M:

The Luna class is the ship chosen by Xcom to transport their elements to battle through space, the Luna is a large bulky heavily armored ship that has little in the way of weapons for its size but it is able to shrug off fire that would destroy any other cruiser.

The MK II guardian class defense Cruiser 950M:

The guardian is the primary ship used by the defense fleets, big, slow and equipped with lots of guns it has 52 double barrel plasma turrets, 64 point defense lasers and 2 fusion lance turrets. It can carry 80 fighters and 6 Spaceranger in its hangers.

The MK IV Victory class heavy cruiser 900M:

The original Victory class cruisers were the primary battle ships used during the Calperty war, having received significant upgrades since then the new MK IV victory class heavy cruisers are used in large amounts by the war fleets, tough patrol and defense fleets use them as well. It has 42 tri barrel plasma turrets 42 point defense lasers and 8 broadside fusion lances it also has a single half ship length magnetic alloy cannon for high precision planetary bombardment. It can carry 100 fighters and 4 Spacerangers in its hangers.

The MK VI Hivecraft class transport 950M:

The Hivecraft is the primacy transport of the legions, able to transport a full legion towards its destination launching space rangers and Tristan class troop transports to deploy its troops, it is only lightly armed having 8 plasma turrets and 16 point defense lasers, but has some of the thickest armor in the fleets.

The MK IV Chivalry class Knight transport 500M:

The Chivalry classes are used to transport the rare knights to the front, it is heavily armored and armed.

 **Star Destroyers 1KM – 5KM:**

The Venator class star destroyer 1450M:

The Venator class is the only star destroyer capable of atmospheric operation, designed as a troop transport/carrier the Venator only has 42 plasma turrets, 64 point defense lasers and 6 broadside lances. It can however carry up to 3 legions and their armored vehicles, its hangers also carry 500 fighters and 12 Spacerangers it also has 8 MK III Tristan class troop transports attached inside its belly.

The MK III Dominion class star destroyer 1800M:

The Dominion class star destroyer is the most common star destroyer and is the primary capitol class ship in the war fleets carrying 64 plasma turrets, 48 point defense lasers, 12 broadside fusion lances and 2 fusion lance turrets its main ship length magnetic alloy cannon is able to pierce straight through a smaller frigate. It is capable of orbital bombardment on a large scale, which is the reason why it was first put into mass production during the Calperty war. It can carry 120 fighters and 6 Spaceranger in its hangers.

The MK II Resurgent class star destroyer 4KM:

Originally designed as a war fleet command ship but later replaced in that role by the star dreadnoughts, it now serves as a powerful capitol ship in the war fleets, the Resurgent class star destroyer has the most guns of any non-dreadnought ships. It also serves as a fighter carrier and a troop transport, it has 146 plasma turrets, 82 point defense lasers, 20 broadside fusion lances and 6 fusion lance turrets, its main gun runs the length of the ship is a special laser made to fire a beam for 10 seconds instead of just firing a half a second shot. It carries 250 fighters, 8 Spaceranger and 12 Tristan class troop transports and 6 legions worth of men.

 **Star Dreadnoughts 5KM – 25KM:**

 **Note: there are only about 25 Dreadnoughts in operation in the dominion and all are heavily customized.**

The Executor class Dreadnought 19KM:

The largest and most powerful of the dreadnought class ships, the Executor can skim the shroud only by using a large team of powerful psionics. Like with all dreadnought class ships and larger ships each one is heavily customized and carries a variable armament.

The Eclipse class dreadnought 17.5KM:

The most common war fleet command ships the eclipse is used as a long-range capital ship destroyer using its main laser battery. Like with all dreadnought class ships and above each one is heavily customized and carries a variable armament, all ships of this class do however possess a spinal ship length super weapon.

The Assertor class dreadnought 15KM:

Smallest of the ships used as war fleet command ships, it carries a large compliment of Xcom troops and Spacerangers and the feared boarding torpedoes and is referred to as the Xcom carrier by most officers. Like with all dreadnought class ships and above each one is heavily customized and carries a variable armament.

The Harrower class dreadnought 6KM:

The smallest of the dreadnought sized ships the harrower is meant to be a carrier fleet leader and defense fleet command ship, like with all dreadnought class ships and above each one is heavily customized and carries a variable armament.

 **Battlestars 25KM - ?:**

 **The Leviathan 30KM:**

The empress' personal command super carrier, the **leviathan** is a 30km long ship built during the Calperty war and constantly upgraded and retrofitted after the end of the war. The **leviathan** is the second largest ship ever built. The only reason the **leviathan** can go through the shroud is using the empress' enormous psionic powers. The **leviathan** carries 512 plasma turrets 32 fusion lance turrets and 350 point defense lasers. It has a complement of 2500 fighters, 100 Spaceranger and 20 Tristan class troop transports. Along with several legions, Xcom strike teams and their armored vehicles.

 **The Hyperion 35KM:**

The largest ship ever built, the **Hyperion** is only able to move in FTL if the Emperor or Empress is on board, the **Hyperion** is the flagship of the dominion fleet, it started out as an 8KM long dreadnought, the first of its class and has since grown to the 35KM monster of the ship that it now is. It carries 986 plasma turrets, 78 fusion lance turrets, 400 point defense turrets and its unique main gun, being a planet cracker laser, running the 35KM length of the ship it is able to fire for up to 25 seconds and, in that time, can destroy an entire continent. It carries 750 fighters and 64 Spacerangers. Along with several legions, Xcom strike teams and their armored vehicles.

 _(Emperor classification detected, releasing experimental project, name: Infinity.)_

The infinity project 360KM:

The infinity project is experimental, and it is unknown how it would be able to do anything more than serve as an oversized orbital platform as no engines could be conventionally used to make something so large move and stop at a realistic speed.

 _(Emperor classification detected, releasing experimental project, name: the Ark.)_

The Ark project 1200KM:

The Ark is humanity's last hope in the event of galaxy wide extinction event able to carry 200 billion in cryo-sleep, and enough supplies and tech to continue the advancement of the dominion species, the Ark would be sent into the shroud by the most powerful psionics of humanity, this would likely kill all doing so, the Ark will then stay in the shroud for a thousand years its armor and psi shield drawn from all aboard it, it would re-enter real space in either a thousand years or when a shroud storm forces it out. Construction has begun in the secret maw cluster. It should be completed in 500 years at current pace.

…...

Emperor James Raynor took sip of his whiskey while continuing to proudly read the codex of the history of the dominion. Wondering what would happen next with the Meridian situation, reports of strange readings from the tuning gate having come through about a week ago, from what doctor Vahlen could tell him it was powering up and would reach its peak in about 3 days.

Taking another sip, and watching the sun set over the Crown he softly muttered." I swear if this more fucking Ethereal bullshit…"

…...

 **Now there are a few things I need to say this is important to understanding the story going on:**

 **The citadel is 150KM long not 50 like in the game, this will be mentioned as the story goes on.**

 **1KM is the minimum length for a citadel dreadnought not the max, as to keep it easy to write.**

 **The citadel races have a lot more ships than in the game, a lot more, like the turians have 200.000 ships more.**

 **Relay travel is not instant it takes between 6-12 hours for secondary and 1 day to 1 week for primary Relays, Shroud skimming takes slightly longer, but is not limited by the Relays, though storms occasionally disrupt travel for weeks on end.**

 **The races I have made part of the dominion are seen as Terrans, because they are a member species of the Terran Dominion.**

 **I will be using meters and CM obviously, also a standard galactic unit is about equal to a CM.**

 **For now, that's all.**

 **Thanks for reading, constructive criticism is appreciated, later guys and gals.**

 **Tombstone signing off.**


	2. Chapter 2: A cat in a strange outfit

**Sup guys here is number two,**

 **Enjoy,**

…

"Starting relay turn, ETA to jump five minutes."

He listed to the drum and hum of his ship below him, its ageing engines struggling to push its behemoth form forward, the _Rayya_ was an old ship, even speaking in the terms of the liveships, build nearly a hundred and fifty years before the Geth rebellions she was about ready to be retired before the Quarrians were driven from the Homeworld, she was an old titan, her spinal mass accelerator, while old and often needing repair was still one of the most powerful in the galaxy, matching the new Turian superdreadnought _Spirits Claw_ , and only being outclassed by the Assari's _Destany accession_ , though bringing the _Rayya_ into combat would be suicide for the people living on board.

"How long will it take to bring the fleet through?" he asked, "We need to hurry to lose the Turians."

The bloody birds had been chasing them for the past three months, all because a few ships had landed on a garden world to gather recourses for the fleet, something they regularly did, only this time they were spotted by a bloody fucking patrol fleet, who mistook their temporary shelters for a colony and warned the nearest strike force.

So now here they were, on damn near the other side of the galaxy, still running from a large Turian strike force in the Traverse far too close to Batarian territory for comfort.

They had no more places to hide, and the choice between fighting the Turians, who would doubtlessly destroy a massive portion of the fleet, fighting the Batarians, who would enslave as many Quarrians as they could, or the last option, one that was either far better or far worse than the other two.

They opened a dormant Relay into the far reaches of the Traverse.

"It will take about a day if we time it right…" the Ensign answered, "The journey itself we have no idea off."

He took a look at the relay, its large rings spinning softly, this was the only choice, the conclave had decided, and he would do the will of the people.

"Begin."

…..

Shawn Williams surveyed the people in front of him, the last remnants of the Aurilian rebellion, amongst them the former Governor, his son and daughter, the three generals, and the Admiral. The rebellion had been crushed nearly a year ago, but their trail was now.

It had taken nearly half a year to crush the rebel forces, and another year to stomp out resistance, but now the Aurillian sector was finally at peace, its garrison forces weakened but still alive, the war-fleet returned to its home base and its taxes flowing back to the Dominion.

He looked to the new Governess, Delarosa her name was, the former assistant of the Governor, and the one who made it possible to destroy the capital planet Meridians ground to space defenses.

"By the word of the God-emperor, you are hereby charged and found guilty for the crimes of; conspiring to commit treason, treason, killing citizens of the Dominion, killing soldiers of the Dominion, Destroying ships of the Dominion, the use of the Exterminatus on the planet Aurelia and the enslavement of citizens of the Dominion."

He spoke evenly, his voice never breaking, this was not the first time he had to voice a death sentence, and they deserved it in his opinion, Aurelia was a terrible thing, the local general refused to surrender the fortress world to the rebels, so they decided to glass it instead.

"The punishment for your crime… is death." He snapped his fingers and a chorus of whining whirls rang out around the square as the legionaries fire their Gauss rifles. The spikes of alloy flew at hyper sonic speeds and bodies dropped to the ground swiftly.

His eyes fell on the GTOL, its massive form newly rebuilt after its destruction, it was but one of eight of the things on Meridian, but it was a start, a sign that this world would be rebuilt and would rise greater than before.

The Capital city was still largely a ruin, its skyscrapers destroyed, its streets pot marked where artillery hit, houses grey and drab, built to at least give people a home, the only structure untouched by the rebellion was the Sectors command fortress, one that had had avoided an assault thanks to Delarosa's quick actions, its towering defense turrets scanned the skies, though its gate the few remaining tanks and vehicles of his armored Legion moved regularly to refuel and repair.

Its shield had been up constantly for nearly a year, a massive strain on the psionics of the fortress, but necessary in case one of the few remaining rebels tried something. Shawn moved back into his command Orion, he looked forward to going home next month, his son had gotten engaged and he wanted to celebrate it, his legion need reinforcements and more vehicles anyway, he just had to wait for the Marauder to finish its repairs.

…..

"Captain we have arrived in Orbit around Meridian."

"Good, give me a complete report on the status on all orbital assets." Captain Markus Anderson said as he took stock of his new job, promoted to Captain of this ship and now in command of the small defense fleet above Meridian whist the Fortress class defense station was under repair, it would allow him to further advance his career and finally get command of a patrol fleet.

"Yes sir," His Xo responded, her brown hair tied back and her yellow eyes scanning her data-tool, "At our command are 5 Arquintens class frigates, 4 Acclimators, 8 Ironclads, 32 Neptune class Corvettes, 2 Mercury class light cruisers, and a single Victory class heavy cruiser, along with this is our own command ship the Dominion II class _Nostradamus_ , she's an old girl and out dated, but she will do fine for this operation."

"We only have to worry about pirates and raiders anyway, honestly our fleet is too large in my opinion." He said, sitting back in his command chair, and opulently decorated thing he inherited from the previous captain, "How long till the station is repaired?"

"Estimates are around five months sir, six if there are complications."

"Well let's get comfortable then, send our probes and scout around the system, and send a report to command stating that we've arrived."

"Roger sir." His Xo said, "Oh and sir?"

"Yes." He responded, minutely annoyed at the woman, he really wanted to get some sleep.

"What about the tuning gate?" she said, "Protocol is to keep a close watch on it, but this formation doesn't allow that."

"Don't worry, just set on of the Ironclads to keep watch over it, should be fine."

…..

The _Rayya_ moaned under the pressure of the Relay transit, the blue shroud around the great ship shook more then it should, but the massive ship would survive it, the rest of the fleet was also in transit, and they would arrive only a few minutes after the first ships of the heavy fleet did, hopefully this system would have a nice amount of materials, enough to repair the worst damaged ships in the fleet.

The best they could hope for was of course that a Dextro garden world was in one of the nearby systems, so that they could build up temporary shelter and gather food and supplies, maybe even settle a permanent colony, Koris would like the idea, the bastard had always wanted to just settle down, but this would be a decision for the Conclave, not for the board.

"We might actually need it though…", Rael thought grimly, 'The fleet is dying, our children may be the last generation.'

…..

The plasmas green glow collided solidly with the rock, cracked already from previous barrages, and shattered the massive asteroid in thousands of small pieces, chunks floating slowly through the vast emptiness of space.

"That's the last one Captain, all asteroids on collision course are destroyed."

"Excellent, prepare for Shroud jump, get us back to orbit." Anderson ordered, "We are already gone for long enough."

This mission was a boring one, once you had seen one asteroid destruction mission you had seen them all, most were simply to protect mining stations with the occasional colony mixed in, boring, yet such things couldn't be ignored, he could have sent one of the acclimators too do this, but he was bored.

"Captain! We have a problem!" his head snapped to the communications officer, "Captain Harlock is reporting activity from the Tuning gate! Its opening sir!"

'Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck shitballs.' Andersons mind couldn't come up with any better words for what he was feeling, he fucked up, simple as that, he took the biggest strongest ship in the fleet away, he had left Meridian nearly undefended, against who knows what was going to come thought the gate, 'I am so fucked!

"Get us back there on the double!" he shouted in panic, "Overload the Gallop if you have too, we need to get back ASAP!"

"Understood sir jumping in 10 seconds!"

The seconds passed far too slow for him, and he felt the panic inside him only increase as time passed, his mind imagining a million events and punishments for his failure, if this was hostile contact then he would be forever remembered as a failure.

"Jumping now!"

The voice shook him out of his thoughts, and right after the ship began to shake slightly, the great portal of red, purple, green and yellow opened in front of the Nostradamus, and grew until the ship was swiftly sucked in.

"Estimated time to arrival, 30 minutes…" the ensign mutter shocked, this was bad news, this shouldn't take more then 10 minutes to get back, they were in the same system, just on the other side of it, this could only mean one thing, "Sir we have an incoming Shroud-storm, three times the size of any seen before…"

Shocked looks were shared amongst the bridge crew, his XO looked about ready to pass out from the news.

"That means it will cut off all of the northern Sectors…" He muttered softly, "For weeks all travel northward trough the shroud will stop and travel north of the storm will slow significantly."

'I am so fucked.' Anderson thought.

…..

The ships of the defense fleet swiftly moved into formation on the orders of Captain Harlock, the Captain of the Victory class cruiser _Arcadia_ , the force he had on hand was weak, fine for fighting off pirates and raiders, but far too small to deal with any meaningful threat, he put his heavier ships in the front, the Mercuries right next to his _Arcadia_ , the Acclimators behind them, their Ion cannons charged and ready, his corvettes were separated into 2 wolf packs ready above and below the fleet, his Ironclads and Arquintens were on the left and right flanks of his fleet, ready to dash into any enemy formation and wreak havoc.

Fighters zoomed around the fleet ready to jump on any enemies of the same size, and the bombers were loaded for anti-ship combat and waiting for orders, ETA put Captain Andersons Nostradamus out 3 minutes, he just hoped the man arrived in time, the Dominion II was still a powerful ship despite its age.

He turned his eyes back to the tuning gate its massive wheels were beginning to spin faster and faster, a ping from his Multi-tool, _the Nostradamus_ was 30 seconds out.

Not long after a portal opened up, from it emerged the behemoth form of the Star-destroyer, its weapons charged and ready, he opened a com link and began to explain the situation.

"Sir, the gate has been spinning up for the past 35 minutes, at first we tough an asteroid had hit it, but energy readings are through the roof on it, most of its is Element Zero based radiation, nothing lethal but still strange, the eggheads down below think its activating sir."

"That's not good news, have you sent the information to Williams?"

"Of course, sir, the General has already begun equipping as many militiamen as he can, and defensive positions are being taken as we speak."

"Good, now we will have to wait, I will send a message to high command, but with the Shroud-storm I don't expect many reinforcements, we could maybe get a few more ships from the Fenrir and Veridian sectors, but it won't be much. Our best hope will be the Sectoria Patrol fleet, but they will be weeks away at best."

…..

Williams looked around the room, here were the most important people on the planet, the Governess Delarosa, the commander of the Defense Legion, Alexander, himself and the Xcom squad leader 'Pious'.

"Where are we on a status report?" he asked the room, all faces looked grimly back at him.

"We have a Gauss rifle in the hands of all our fittest civilians, that's maybe 100.000 militia, they aren't much use in a fight, but they'll still be guns aimed at the enemy."

"We have three legions planet-side, all are largely depleted of both manpower and equipment, there is the 1st Meridian defense legion currently 35.000 strong, mostly mountain fighters, they have taken position in the mountains to the north, nothings going to be coming thought there, that only leaves one real entrance to the city, the East."

"There we have deployed the infantry legion the 31st Candia, 41.000 strong, mostly used too city and forest combat, last is your legion general, the 398th Mars armored legion 8.000 strong, about 750 SHIS suited Legionaries along with 31 Orion MBT's, 103 Raptors SBT, 321 Halftracks, 112 with flamers the rest with AA las cannons, 12 Wraith SHIV's, 3 Hellhound SHIV's, and the damaged Marauder."

"That might seem like a substantial force but from previous experience, attacking a planet with anything less then 2 million men is suicide, so we can expect at least that number, likely more than that in enemies."

Pious spoke up next, his voice coming through his mask filter rasping.

"Don't forget about our Xcom elements planet-side, 8 of the best fighters in the galaxy, including a MEC unit and a P-10 Psion. We are ready for deployment into the toughest fighting, 3 squads of 2 and Montaigne our MEC, he preferers to work solo."

"What about you Pious?" he asked, the man was a renowned sniper and one of the best infiltrators in the Galaxy, renown for his single handed taking of one of the largest forts on Healgard during the Lios rebellion.

"I will begin infiltration operations as soon as the enemy lands troops, picking off commanders, enemy snipers and sabotaging artillery and vehicles." The masked man responded, the rasp in his voice was tinged with eagerness, Shawn had known the man long enough to sense it. "I will once more praise the name of the Emperor with the blood of his enemies."

"What are our chances of reinforcements?" The governess asked her voice tinged with worry, "We don't have enough men to hold the city for ever with most of the Militia guarding towns and fortifying hills."

"We wont be able to draw more forces from on world, the Militia will need to hold the rest of the planet, however previous experience have shown that when invading worlds the largest population center will need to be taken first, and there is no other place with the infrastructure to support an occupation on this world." Alexander responded to the distraught woman, his voice calm and confident,

"For reinforcements, we might be able to get the 3rd Calderis, and the 2nd Thyphon, that would be another 56.000 legionaries, but they aren't used to fighting in the mountains or in the city, still I would take a legionary over a Militiaman any day." Shawn spoke up.

"That's assuming we can get them here before our fleet is destroyed…" Pious said, "We might need to just dig in and hope for reinforcements when the Storm passes."

"So, we are in deep shit then?" Delarosa's remark got a smile from the others despite the situation, it was true however, they didn't have the artillery or the vehicles to mount an effective defense. All they could do is hope for the best and prepare for the best.

…..

Rael was wringing his hands, he had been for hours, it was a thing he did when he was nervous. Though he wasn't the only one who was showing signs of fear, Koris looked about ready to faint, Shala was beside him, toying with her omni-tool, and Gerrel was bouncing on his feet excitedly Daro was a different story, the strange woman had been in constant contact with her ship for their entire time on the Rayya, and didn't look nervous at all.

"Admirals, we are starting to decelerate, ETA 5 minutes." The young ensign had been keeping them updated for the past hours, the Rayya would be one of the first ships to arrive, the old girl had been mixed in with the heavy fleet for security.

"Soon we will all have a home, or we will all be dead…" Daro's voice was eerily calm.

"I still think we should have just fought the Turians off." Gerrel spoke up, and Rael sighed, they had had this fight about 50 times the past few weeks, and he was getting very tired of it.

"And we have told you that we would have lost to much!"

"We could have won! We could have captured those ships and beat the Geth around the Homeworld!"

"How many times to we have to tell you that it wouldn't be enough Gerrel!"

"How many times do I have to say that I don't care about your opinion Koris!"

"Shut up you Boshtet!"

"How dare you!"

"Admirals! ETA 30 seconds!"

Thank the Ancestors, Re'al would have had to step in if it wasn't for that Ensign, getting between Koris and Gerrel was always an annoyance, nothing would ever get through to those two thick headed morons, they would forever treat each other as the enemy.

He turned his eyes back to the view port I front of him, the blue was beginning to fail, as the bubble of Ezoo radiation was slowing them down at incredible speeds, he just hoped that what resources they found would get the fleet in shape for another transit, they would need to make at least another three jumps to get safe from the Turians, that task force was nearly 2500 ships strong, enough to destroy a massive part of the fleet, and not something they could fight back against.

The _Rayya_ shuddered violently as the deceleration put them at a standstill, before them laid a sight they had not expected, a bright blue and green ball was below them, this was not what surprised them however, no that was the fact that ships were waiting for them.

The large vessels were each bristling with gun turrets, and he saw several spinal mount weapons as well, their armor looked thick and the sunken in command bridges were barely visible, Rael's mind quickly analyzed their design, a complete unknown to him, so not pirates, they pyramid like design allowed for massive forward and sideward fire power, this would be a weakness on their behind though, though he could see a few ships with turrets aimed in that direction.

"Kheela…" the Ensign muttered, "Admirals energy outputs for that Super-Dreadnought are double that of the _Destiny Ascension_ , one shot from its spinal accelerator would wipe a frigate instantly…"

That was bad news, they only had the heavy fleet here for now, but the cost of attacking that fleet with the heavy fleet would be large, even if the Quarrians outnumbered them nearly 50 to 1.

"Element Zero appears to be only a minor component of their constructions, I detect no Ezoo reactors…"

"So they are Primitives?" Daro asked,

"Admiral… I detect large quantities of a dark matter analog…"

"That's impossible!" Rael almost shouted, "Dark matter power production is completely energy inefficient, it cost far more to make dark matter then it ever gives when used in a reactor!"

"Intriguing…" Daro interrupted his tirade, "What other toys do they have?"

"We have signs of plasmatic radiation from their turrets…"

…..

"Status report Nostra! Now!"

"Yes sir! Contacts appear to rely on Element Zero based technology, large amounts of mass accelerators, spinal mounts too, I am also detecting minor concentrations of Ultra-violet laser defense systems, no carriers detected, their command ships appear to also be carrying a massively inflated crew, most likely survivors from previous battles, their damaged status would seem to indicate this as well."

"Are their weapons taking aim?"

"No sir they don't have Shields either, however they do have a kinetic barrier."

"Follow standard protocol, send the first contact package, keep weapons at 50 percent charge and shields up to max."

"Understood."

…..

Codexapedia entries;

 **The Legionary armament;**

All legions, despite their differing tactics and deployments, use the Standard, Mk XXIII Chaos hand cannons, these 360 rounds per minute weapons fire five-centimeter-long spikes using electrically charged magnets, it has a standard shot capacity of 60 rounds per magazine, and takes roughly 2-3 seconds to reload.

Of course, some legions use different variants of these weapons, such as the famous Hieldian Stormtroopers, who use a 120 shot LMG variant of the Chaos hand cannon, and the Kerberos Skirmishers who use a single shot adaptation for maximum accuracy at longer ranges.

Other the standard Chaos hand cannons, legions use several hundred different specialty weapons, the most common of these are the remaining laser weapons in the legion, such as the Precision Laser Caster, a powerful laser sniper rifle with pinpoint accuracy, no recoil, and no bullet drop.

And of course, the Cerberus Tri-barrel laser cannon, a weapon usually set up by engineers as a modern sort of machine gun nest, of course with the recent research into handheld particle cannons experts say that laser weapons will be cycled out of Legionary use within the next 20 years.

 **Fusion lances and their uses;**

Fusion lances saw their first introduction during the Ethereal war, then they were mostly used on fighters, with the exception of a few lances fitted to an old Russian battleship by Xcom for experimentation.

Fusion lances function by smashing two particles, usually Elyrium particles, together at incredible speeds, then sending the energy forward in a massive shot, these blasts of energy have very little in the way of kinetic energy, most of their power is in heat and electric energy.

This does not mean that a lance blast doesn't have kinetic energy, quite the opposite, as a large enough volley can crack the crust of a planet.

 **Artillery;**

The dominion uses many varieties of Artillery in its legions, most legions use one or two kinds, however some legion specializing in artillery use many more, some of the most commonly used ones are:

 **The Artemis Long-range plasma cannon;** the Artemis is one of those guns that a defense simply can't go without, it is the dominions primary counter battery and highly accurate and simply ridicules ranges, up to 50 kilometers at maximum, they are usually transported on halftracks, though some are mounted instead on Raptor SBT's.

 **The Goliath Heavy guns;** the goliaths are the closest analog the dominion has to true siege artillery, with a range of only 15 kilometers, but enough force to destroy even a fully shielded knight with just one or two shots.

 **The Yoius self-propelled rotary mortar (The Thunker);** the thunker as its lovingly referred to by the legion is a very common weapon, carried by engineers this weapon has a range of 2 kilometers, but can fire a barrage of 40 shots over the course of a minute, though largely ineffective against heavily armored tanks, this gun is an infantryman's nightmare, as the barrage of plasma is usually followed by a legionary charge.

…..

 **Hope you guys enjoyed, and how is the grimdark feeling, does it need more dark or more grim,**

 **As always reviews are appreciated.**

 **Later guys,**

 **Tombstone signing off.**


	3. Chapter 3

**another one her you go,**

 **enjoy,**

...

'What is it now,' Rael thought, as the Ensign called out once more, 'Do they have Anti-matter to?'

"Admirals, we have a first contact package, at least we think so…" the Ensign spoke swiftly, "Should we send our own?"

"Yes!" the Admirals all answered at once, though in different tones of voice, "And put theirs on screen!"

The first thing they noticed was the image of the species in front of them, more so the fact that they seemed oddly familiar, looking like an color blind child had painted an Asari, only with hair, the strange thing was that this wasn't the only species, as several others were also projected beside the first one, the first a strange furred race.

'Probably from some kind of desert world,', Rael instantly noted, 'Heat resistant fur, and fat for insolation at night.'

The next few ones looked similar to the first one, same body type, only with different skin tones and brain-tails.

'Tails contain portions of the brain, likely empathetic in nature,' Rael though again, 'would allow them to sense emotions much easier, form bonds quicker, and perhaps sense lies, three different species, all similar in looks, but still with far different anatomy, likely evolved under similar conditions only on far different worlds.'

The last species appear to be plantlike in nature, with large amounts of grass and plants serving as clothes.

'Plantoid species, not ever seen before, but has been speculated on, Salarians would be interested, I am at least…'

"A confederation…" Shala muttered, and he agreed with her on that, it was the only logical conclusion, another body similar to the Citadel.

"That's impossible… never have two races evolved on the same world!"

"That isn't their Homeworld you fool!"

"Shut it Koris!"

"Can you both shut up?! You bosh'tet's!" Daro interrupted the two of them before they could get started, "This is far more important than your petty struggle for dominance!"

"Agreed, it appears we have found a foreign entity, one that doesn't have the same prejudices as a certain Council…" Rael trailed off, and he could feel the smirk of Daro and Shala, even as the two other male admirals skulked.

They were interrupted by the message continuing, images of peaceful interaction flashed by, interactions between the different races, romances, children playing, and all under the watchful eye of soldiers armored in red and black. Then they were presented with a glorious blue and green and red and yellow and white ball hovering in space, at first inspection it looked to be the perfect garden world, large and completely habitable.

Then the camera zoomed in, and the planet came at them at incredible speeds, and what Rael had thought to be a continent changed.

'That isn't a continent, it's a city…'

The streets of the city flashed by and a great tower was revealed, taller then any on the Citadel, soon they passed by the last sky-scrapers an into a park heading closer to the great tower, then came lines of soldiers thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, then millions, then there were twice as many Soldiers there then there were Quarrians in the Galaxy, and it scared him, and in some way reviled.

What had these races fought that warranted this large of an army stationed on one world, even Palavan had only 10 million Turian Soldiers stationed on it at any time, even though most Turians on Palavan were retired soldiers and would fight if necessary.

What had they gone though that warranted garrisons of that size, he shuddered at the thought, it would have to be terrible, something that dwarfed both the Rachni war and the Krogan rebellions, a conflict of such scale and scope that extinction was near inevitable would be the only way such a culture could come around.

"This will be worse than the Krogan rebellions if they go to war with the citadel, just looked at the size of some of them, they must be nearly 250 standard units tall, their muscle structure suggest infinitely regenerative muscles… only the Krogan and Vorcha have those, but their bone-structure is far closer to Asari meaning more flexibility and higher range of movement, likely have the ability to sweat like Asari thus well increasing endurance, jaw structure suggest omnivorous diet, jaw strength eclipsing that of the Krogan, strong enough to bite through some weaker metals…"

Daro went into analyzation mode, something that he had only seen happen a few times, and he still found it a creepy thing, her talking about these aliens as if they were animals.

"Eye anatomy suggesting quick adaptation to light levels, nearing that of night predators, legs not good for high speed running, likely persistence hunters, harass prey until they are too tired to fight back, redundant organs, two harts and two lungs two kidneys, liver able to regrown itself from smaller piece, likely able to survive wounds that would kill an Asari with little issue. Lifespan estimate… 200 to 250 standard years… species would be in third place for longest living, second place when the Krogan finally die out, though not far ahead of pre exile Quarrians, other species also interesting but would need time to study them all up close..."

This information was far more interesting to Rael, much could be said of the way a species waged war based on their anatomy, Asari using highly skilled commando teams because of their longer lifespan and general physical weakness, Krogan's using simple charge and destroy tactics due to their incredible durability, Salarians preferring infiltration to battle, and Turians preferring attrition combat because of metal like skin.

"We should send them a language packet, to see if they might be able to develop a translator, we don't have the resources to do so ourselves." Shala suggested, as always on point and focused on the issue at hand, "I would prefer peace over war with these Aliens."

…..

"Captain we have receive an FCM, I am already working on a translation, but it will take a while."

"Good work Nostra keep at it and play the FCM."

The message play itself out rather quickly, a few images of the species, some kind of bipod the rest of their form was hidden by a sort of tight-fitting hazmat suit. Hmm, weakened immune system perhaps, or lacking one entirely?

Nomadic… well that was interesting, most projections show that a species would not be able to survive purely in space for more then 400 years without aid, what would drive them from their worlds, perhaps some kind of xenophobic exterminators had attacked them?

"Are you sending the data to Highcom Nostra?"

"Of course, Captain, and I'm sure the eggheads are already having the best day of their lives with it."

"How long til-"

"A few days at best on the translator, I don't have a lot of information and this is more complicated then Sanscrit and Nabatian combined."

He frowned, Nostra must be stressed as well, she hated cutting people off, and only did so when necessary.

"Hold a minute, I have language packets, give me an hour and I will have a written translator, spoken will require a mind-meld though." Nostra spoke up happily, this brought a smile to his face.

"Excellent, send them our language packets as well, to show we understand."

"Roger." The Ai responded, "Uhh… Captain we have additional contacts coming through! Lots of them!"

"So they are truly Nomads then…" he muttered softly, before opening a Hyperwave to the rest of his fleet, "All ships hold you fire, do not initiate hostile action, I repeat take no hostile actions but keep weapons charged."

A chorus of acknowledgements came to him, and he turned his eyes to the new arrivals, most were smaller then the first to come through, and I worse disrepair if that was even possible. Some were missing entire compartments, others had large holes in their hulls, one even looked to be a puzzled together beast, using engines from one ship and the hull of another.

"This better end well… it would be a war crime to fire on those things, I've seen Junkers with ships in better condition…"

…..

The next hour passed tensely, as quarrian ships kept arriving and the dominion ships steadily became more and more outnumbered, Harlock was understandably nervous the _Arcadia_ had taken up position on the right of the _Nostradamus_.

"How long until reinforcements arrive?" he asked his ships AI.

A large avatar appeared before him, 'walking' to the center of the bridge, though if anyone could call the seductive strutting a walk then they were obviously blind, the avatars shape was that of a green skinned woman of incredible beauty, he smiled, Mimay always like toying with his bridge crew, and this avatar was one of her favorites.

"The patrol fleet is already on the way, but their three weeks out at best," She responded, "Ships from Fenris and Veridian have already been dispatched to reinforce us, 3 and 5 days out respectively, that's another 3 Victory Classes, 7 Acclimators, 12 Ironclads, and about two dozen smaller frigates."

"Not much…" he said as he stroked his chin in thought, Nostra the AI on the _Nostradamus_ , had already run calculations on the Alien ships and their abilities, thanks to their use of element zero, they were fast and nimble, but small and had far less raw firepower, there exact attack power would remain unclear for a while, but simulations had shown that Ezoo based spinal cannons and mass accelerators hit with roughly half the force as equally sized plasma weapons, but fired twice as often, better in close to mid-range engagements then, where all of their shots could hit.

It also appeared that the Dominion despite of their lower numbers had the advantage in small craft, from what the sensors could detect the Aliens had no dedicated carriers, and all Dominion ships had at least a small compliment of fighters and bombers, in addition the dominion could also get reinforcements from planet side as well in the early stages of a space battle, this would fall anyway after troops landed planet side however.

"Logan, make sure we are ready for highspeed maneuvers." A nod from the young man answered his command, and the one-eyed boy began yelling commands at the pilots he had personally chosen for their positions. Harlock meanwhile opened a line to engineering.

"Yulian, make sure that we are ready for Spinal MAC barrage, any hostile action and I want you to destroy their largest ship, designation _Rayya_."

…..

The Admirals were all standing around the large meeting table, each staring silently at the others, not an uncommon occurrence, the Admiralty often had disputes that resulted in arguments. This however, this was on a whole different scale and scope.

Koris and Gerrel were continuously at each other's necks and had to be physically pulled apart… twice. Daro and Shala were both staring at the text projected, and Rael's mind was going at incredible speeds, calculations and plans being made and discarded by the hundreds every minute. The text was written in perfect Kalish, with the exception of some missing mannerisms common in the written Quarrian language it was perfect.

Something was no right here, it should have taken them at least twice as long, even with the language packet, to create a translator, but he put his mind of it, the message was more important.

 _ **Written in the name of the God-Emperor,**_

 _ **I Markus Marius Anderson,**_

 _ **Captain of the Nostradamus,**_

 _ **Leader of the Meridian defense fleet,**_

 _ **Servant of the Emperor and the Dominion,**_

 _ **Bid you welcome too,**_

 _ **The Terran Dominion;**_

 _ **Sector: Aurlian**_

 _ **System; Khorus**_

 _ **Orbit of Planet; Meridian**_

 _ **I hereby invite the leader or leaders of your government to meet with the governess of Meridian, Governess Delarosa Di Meridian, and myself Captain Markus Marius Anderson, in the Meridian planetary fortress at your earliest convenience too exchange information and allow for diplomatic relations between the Dominion and your Government.**_

 _ **In the name of the God-Emperor I swear to your safe return to your fleet but know that any hostile action against any Terran will be interpreted as a declaration of war upon the Dominion by the Quarrian people, and you will be annihilated.**_

 _ **We have sent flight paths and a translator program with this message and hope to hear you will be willing to negotiate.**_

 _ **Honored be the God-Emperor, blessed be we under his rule,**_

 _ **Captain Markus Marius Anderson.**_

The admirals stared silently at the message then at each other, it had been nearly 300 years since the Quarrian Government had been called a foreign government by any other race and it gave Rael a warm feeling, most races in citadel space would not even speak with the Migrant fleet, with the exception of the rare Asari born to a Quarrian that had made it in the, often literally, murderous political climate of the Asari Republics.

"We have to go…" Shala muttered, and he voiced his agreement, this was a chance they could not ignore.

"Someone will have to stay behind, I nominate Gerrel." Koris said happily Rael smiled, and spoke up before Gerrel could respond, even if it was funny it was also for the best, Gerrel was an aggressive Bosh'tet, but he would not risk lives by attacking.

"Agreed."

The Daro and Shala agreed with them as well and Gerrel quietly stalked to the corner of the meeting room to skulk and scowl at them beneath his mask.

"Looks like we are going to be allowed to bring a fighter escort, 4 fighters and a shuttle, and up to 12 armed guards," Daro said as she skimmed through the flight paths, Rael meanwhile read the message again, and found himself minutely amused at the way these aliens seemed to worship their Emperor, sure many of the species of the council worshiped as well, the Turian's had a sort of ancestor worship with their spirits.

The Asari had their goddess, and let's not forget the Elcor with fanatical worship of the Enkindlers, the Quarrians had had a kind of druidic religion before the exile, and still a small priesthood existed aboard the live-ships worshiping the few plants and trees they had managed to take from the home-world.

"How long will it take to prepare the shuttle and escorts?"

…..

 _ **Hail honored Terrans,**_

 _ **We, the Quarrian Admiralty board, accept your invitation, we will arrive in 2 hours, we hope for peaceful and prosperous talks.**_

 _ **We ask that a complete hold fire order be issued to all on the planet and in orbit, and in exchange we shall do the same.**_

 _ **Greetings,**_

 _ **Admirals of the Quarrian Migrant Fleet.**_

Governess Delarosa smiled, perhaps bloodshed could be stopped here today, orders from high command had come through, along with praise for the actions of all involved, Markus it would seem, would get of lightly for his near mistake.

She was to get the Quarrians to agree to a non-aggression pact, something they had basically already asked for, and also to test the waters on getting them moved to a more easily monitored system until the shroud storm passed, so that a 'Diplomat with instructions directly from his Glorious Majesty the Emperor' could see to true talks with them. She just had to get such a Zealous highcom officer.

She stood in the courtyard of the planetary fort, Markus beside her, both surrounded by Xcom troopers, the giant form of the MEC Trooper 'Montaigne' behind her softly stroking the massive cannon in his mechanical hands, the heavy weapon specialists 'Nuke' and 'Crater' to her left and right, the flight pack equipped 'Valk' and 'Hermes' were overseeing the setting up of defenses in the city, and Pious, sitting on overwatch on top of one of the forts towers, would not tell her where "Rex' or 'Vigil' were.

In addition to the Xcom troopers where the 8 legionaries of General Williams Legion, each in their black SHIS armor and holding their Tri-barrel Laser Cannons tightly, and the then there was the rest of the forts garrison, numbering 1000 well trained legionaries.

She felt reasonably safe in meeting with these aliens, even if they decided to try and kill her. She wasn't the strongest Psion but she still had one of the best shields in her school class, which was now boosted by the small gallop on her belt she should be able to survive at least a few shots, enough to get in cover at least.

But all of that was assuming that the aliens would attack, which to her seemed unlikely, the information they had sent had shown clearly that they had to wear environmental suits to survive and fighting in such a suit would likely result in infections and maybe death for them.

She was broken from her thoughts as a shuttle broke the clouds above her its 4 escort fighters looking quite flimsy compared to the 4 Vikings that followed them, the shuttle itself was also not in the best condition, a few clear scratches and burns marked its hull of faded grey.

The Vikings transformed to their mech form and landed on the walls of the courtyard, massive plasma guns aimed down at the aliens, while a patrol of Hellfyres passed above.

It landed with a heavy thump upon the stones of the courtyard, and a ramp lowered itself down to the ground, from it emerged a group of armed guards, small bipods compared to the average human, who stood 220 cm without gene mods, these aliens stood 200 cm tall on average she guessed.

Their weapons were small, likely foldable mass effect accelerators, a novelty in the Dominion, as the things had a tendency to explode and shower all nearby with highly dangerous Element zero radiation, well that and they didn't have the punch that a gauss cannon had.

After the guards came a small group of aliens in slightly better decorated suits, likely the leaders, or Admirals as they called themselves, 4 of them, not unexpected they likely left one of their own with the fleet in case of an ambush, she smiled as they approached.

…..

Rael looked at the massive aliens with apprehension, the size might not have said much on a screen by up close the aliens were massive, the black armored troopers were big, Krogan big even, but the three near the Governess where on entirely different scale.

The two beside her and the Captain were simply massive, walls of flesh and armor, a male and a female both taller and larger than most Krogan, one holding what appeared to be a rotating rapid-fire weapon, the other a larger size longer barreled gun.

But the one behind them, now there he had no comparison to, a mountain of a male, standing nearly 350 units tall, massive hands equipped with the distinctive form of a flamethrower, while he held a large glowing gun with both hands, the thing looked like it could have fitted on one of the fighters that followed their own escort fighters, on his shoulders sat two weapons as well, he guessed, as they glowed with green energy.

Daro seemed to be interested as well, looking at the man like a Varren looked at a skittish and fat Salarian. He was mildly amused and mildly scared by her look, and he seriously considered telling her that she wasn't allowed to dissect any of them, before dismissing the idea.

Shala it seemed did share his apprehension of the aliens as he could see her form was tense, Koris however seemed strangely amused at something, but he didn't feel like asking, the man was probably just happy that Gerrel wasn't here.

The alien woman stepped forward towards them, she looked so much like an Asari that Rael was almost stunned, beyond the skin color and hair on her head she matched the Asari perfectly. He shook his head and stepped forward as well, the others had chosen him to lead the negotiations.

The Governess brought up a blue screen from her wrist, he was surprised at the likeness to an Omni-tool.

 _ **Greetings Admirals, I am Governess Delarosa of the Dominion, I govern this planet, Meridian until it can once again be given over to local administration. I welcome you to the Terran Dominion, and I come with a request if you are willing to hear it?**_

He brought up his own Omni-tool, smiling at the brief flash of surprise of the face of the woman, and began to type.

 _ **Greeting Governess, I am Rael Zorrah vas Alderai nar Rayya, Captain of the Alderai and Admiral of the civilian fleet of the greater Migrant fleet. We are glad to listen to your request.**_

The woman nodded something Rael realized they had in common with the Asari, and once again began to type on her own tool.

 _ **My thanks Admiral, my request is simple, I would like to form a mind-meld with you too allow us to share knowledge of your spoken language.**_

He simply stared for about a minute, she had to be kidding, if these aliens could meld it would probably cause an uproar with the Asari, never had another such species be found, he shook himself out of his shock and typed again.

 _ **I will allow it, as long as you promise to only take knowledge of our language.**_

Her message came immediate.

 _ **Agreed.**_

She put out her hand and motioned him to do the same, he did and when she grasped, he was surprised at her strength, then her eyes glowed purple and he knew felt every nerve in his body light with a feeling of pain and pleasure, then he knew nothing, until he awoke on his knees.

…

 **Bit shorter with no codexapedia, but here you guys go,**

 **Later,**

 **Tombstone signing off,**


	4. Chapter 4

**Heres number 4 guys,**

 **Enjoy,**

…..

Tevos considered herself a remarkably patient person, she could listen to someone drone on about the smallest most inconsiderable problems for hours and come up with a reasonable argument against or for them, all without seeming annoyed or bored.

Right now, however even her considerable patients had reached its limit, the young Turian beside her had not stopped screaming and shouting in three days, the Salrian councilor, Valern, was even less amused and was openly playing some game on her Omni-tool, Tevos seriously considered doing the same before thinking better off it.

Yet Spartacus, the new and ambitious Turian Councilor had not even noticed her lapse in attention, too busy ranting on about the Quarrians and their so-called crimes, she was of coursed not convince, but had agreed to signing off on sending a Turian fleet under Spectre guidance to bring the Quarrian admirals to questioning, just to get him to shut up.

That had worked for about a week, right until the fleet had lost the location of the migrant fleet.

Then the annoying man had requested another fleet be assigned to his search, in addition to an entire Turian Army group, both of which he had gotten and again achieved no results with, so now he was still screaming for more reinforcements.

It took her a moment to realize that the man had finally stopped talking, and was now staring between her a Valern, expecting something, she sent a small hand signal that was quickly followed by a short summery of what the man had just said by her assistant into her small ear phone.

She should give the girl a raise for thinking of that.

"Councilor, we have told you time and again, we will not dedicate more resources searching for the Quarrians." She said, quickly enough that Spartacus must have thought she was just thinking.

"But Tevos, you agree that we have to find them before they attempt to settle planet!"

"I do, but any colony being set up in the traverse would be weak to raiders and slavers, they won't settle in the traverse that's why we have the Relays out of there under blockade."

"One thing however." Valern interjected, "Relay installations have detected small disruption in the network several hours ago…"

"You don't mean the-"

"Yes, likely Quarrians opened dormant relay."

"Why didn't you say anything?!" Spartacus screamed again.

"I did," the Salarnian smiled, "You just kept screaming."

Despite the direness of the situation Tevos smiled, her mind quickly focused back on the problem at hand though, if the Quarrians had opened a Relay she had no choice but to step in, such a direct violation of council law had to be punished, and swiftly, lest her position would be brought in to question.

"I hereby change my vote on a search of the traverse to Agree." She spoke in her most formal tone, surprising Spartacus, the poor man must have been expecting more resistance out of her, but she honestly didn't really care about the Quarrians, they were a scapegoat at best and a nuisance at worst, this however, the opening of a Relay, could not be tolerated.

Hours later after the meeting had ended, she contacted the Spectre assigned to the task force, she needed to make sure that the Admirals didn't die, she had hammered on their arrest for the previous sessions and it would hit her reputation if they were to die.

…..

Admiral Desaloss looked over the at the woman again, unsure how he should respond, the Spectre had somehow passed all security around his quarters and fallen asleep on his bed with a bottle of his best Thesian whine.

The Purple skinned Asari had always given him a bad feeling, back when she was first assigned to his ship and brought along her little band of mercenaries, including Krogan battle-masters of all things, he had been understandably annoyed, but had tolerated her because the Council had assigned her.

But now, now he was seriously considering just dumping her out the airlock. That Thesian whine cost him half a month's pay!

Stopping himself from murdering the Spectre he instead awoke her.

By throwing a bucket of cold water over her, his bed would still be moist tonight, but he felt it was worth it, more the worth it.

The Spectre however appeared to disagree with his opinion as he was quickly stuck to the ceiling by her biotics. The next moment a knife was pressed to his neck, and the face of an angry Asari was next to his.

"Why did you…" she spoke, her voice filled with killing intent.

"I tried to wake you." Lie, but she wouldn't know, "It was the only remaining solution."

The woman growled, but she removed the knife a few seconds later and her biotics dissipated not long after.

"Why did you need to wake me?" she asked as she plopped down on one of his chairs.

"Because you must be in my courters for a reason." He said keeping his voice even as he sat on the other chair in the room, "So what is it?"

"Uhg, your no fun…" she muttered, before straitening. "New orders from the council, were moving into the traverse, orders are still to capture the admirals, but we are to look out for any newly opened relays."

The intent to kill any Quarrian who resisted was not stated but clear in her tone, Yial Tapius had a clear unrepressed hate for the suit-rats, something she picked up by her grandfather being a Quarrian apparently. He himself dislike the race as expect of any self-respecting Turian that had seen fleet and flotilla.

Then he thought on the new orders, the plan had been to wait for the suit-rats to run from the traverse, an area filled with pirates, raiders and slavers and right into the arms of the waiting fleet. But if they were opening relays then it would escalate the situation tenfold.

This would be what would make or break his career, he had eyes for the coveted title of lord-admiral, leader of the Turian navy. If he managed to destroy the migrant fleet and capture the admirals, it would pave his way towards it, the current lord admiral, Janus, was old and approaching retirement, and he would be able to simply step in if this panned out.

He smiled, it wouldn't be that hard, he had 3000 odd ships now that the Attican patrol fleets had finally accepted him as commander. The migrant fleet was nearly 40.000 ships strong but only a fraction of those were combat capable, at most they had 4000, and all would be small and in subpar conditions, easy prey for his crack force of 2 Turian strike-fleets and the Councils 12th fleet.

His smile turned vile, the Specter actually flinched when she turned to him, though that may have been because she was not used to seeing a Turian smile.

…..

Pious sat comfortably on the tower, his chameleon gene mod made him near invisible to the naked eye even up close, at this distance no one without advance sensors could see him. He peered through the scope of his customized precision plasma rifle, the old girl had been with him since his induction into Xcom and had the marks to show for it.

She had started out as a standard pattern Precision plasma rifle, one of the many weapons given to Xcom recruits to choose from and one they were expected to either lose or discard, but not his. She was nearly 150 years old but had been upgraded so many times she would be unrecognizable.

Her housing was scratched and dented, her Elleryium core had been changed for increased output, her barrel made adjustable to the distance of engagement, her scope having been made specifically for him, it had everything, thermal, biometric, and his personal favorite, a track and trace feature.

The greatest change of course was its bolt impact changer module, allowing the old girl to be switched from armor piercing bolts to incendiary to electronic, to god emperors only knows how many others and also allowed her to temporarily increase her fire rate.

She was his treasure, a weapon that had been with him for the largest part of his life, and one he would not know how to live without.

Banishing these warm and happy thoughts he turned his eyes to the aliens, they were small from up here, he noted. The suits made it hard to read their emotions, but that was compensated by an exaggerated body language. They were nervous, very nervous he put the head of the one at the front in his crosshair, before his aim drifted to the guards at the back, he locked them to his scope.

Calculations ran in his head, he could kill 5 of them at the second of them firing, he would not be the first to fire, the Emperors church preached equality for all those willing to except the light of his rule, toleration of those not and the death of those that would dare challenge the Dominion.

It was yet to be determined if they would join the Dominion, he hoped they would as his eyes drifted to one of the lead females, there was something about her, and even though her mask hid her features he knew she was examining all around her with ruthless intellect, Monty appeared rather annoyed at her look of hunger for him.

He didn't blame the MEC trooper, a quick surface reading of her mind, something he wasn't exactly the best at and always gave him a headache, told him of the types of 'Investigations' she wanted to do too him, he cracked a small smile at the similarities too some Terran scientists he had met, all insane obsessive workaholics those.

Until you got them drunk and high of course, that was one hell of a night.

He read the words sent between the diplomats, the governess seemed to be sticking to protocol, something he could appreciate, even if it was unnecessary. Some other Xcom squads would disagree, but even the best fighters in the galaxy had fanatics he supposed.

Then came the handshake, he kept his eyes peeled, if this went wrong, he needed to intervene, he shifted the setting of his old girl to non-lethal, and lined up, ready to fire. The aliens appeared shocked when their admiral dropped down to his knees, and the soldiers took aim, he began to put pressure on the trigger as he saw the aliens begin aiming, before a voice sounded in his ear.

" _Don't shoot! Please, all is fine!"_ the language was strange but luckily it was repeated in Terran just a second later, he removed his finger from the trigger resting it on the side of the massive weapon but kept the soldiers in his crosshair.

…..

Rael shook his head, the experience had made him a bit dizzy and his eyes watered behind his mask, he slowly stood up, and turned to look at the Quarrians behind him, a small gesture of his hand made them lower their guns with some apprehension.

"I am sorry, the first... meld is always a bit... extreme." The Governess spoke to him, his eyes widened, she spoke perfect Kelish, she even had the same accent as him, somewhere deep within him he had still thought it was all an act, but this had proved it.

He pointed to himself, then spoke.

"I am Rael Zorrah, Admiral of the Quarrian Migrant fleet."

The alien nodded to him and pointed to herself in response.

"I am Governess Delarosa, of the Terran Dominion." She spoke, "I... request? The use of short words, it takes time to... process a... language."

"So, you really aren't an Asari then?" he asked rhetorically, they had the exact same problem with processing languages, meaning that first contact was easier, but it also meant that insult could easily be given by accident.

"Excuse me... a what?"

"Asari, a species of the galaxy, they are not very nice." He was using small words to keep it easy to understand, and to paint the picture that the Quarrians needed help. "They control the Council, rule the others with their friends, they won't give Quarrians a home-world."

"They deny you a world?" she asked, "Why?"

"Quarrians made, living machines..."

"AI?"

There it was, he just hoped that they would at least consider helping, lying to them would not help.

"Yes, Geth." He answered her, "The Geth took our home-world, the Asari wouldn't help, Salarians and Turrians do what Asari say."

Her frown seemed angry, he didn't know at who. The woman then barked something in her native language at the man beside her, the words sounded elegant and hard at the same time.

…..

"An Emperor dammed racist dictatorship!" the Governess raged, the Quarrians had left about an hour ago, after a sharing of codex's. A ceasefire and a non-aggression pact signed and both sides powering down weapons.

"Isn't the Emperor technically a dictator?" Alexander said from his position on the table, though he quickly shrunk back at the angry glare Pious was sending him.

"The Emperor is not a ruler in the traditional sense, yes he holds ultimate power in matters of state and military, but he was no influence of justice and prosecution of crime, all worlds make their own laws, and as long as they pay taxes a lot is tolerated." Shawn butted in before the Xcom trooper could clobber the general over the head with his severed arm.

"All Terrans are considered equal, slavery is not allowed, AI's are treated as Terrans as well, and the Emperor most assuredly does not attack refugees just because their ancestors broke a law."

In truth Shawn knew that the Dominion was a totalitarian state, even if most worlds enjoyed a massive amount of autonomy, the Emperor was the chief commander of Xcom, the legions and the navy, Sector Solaris was under his direct governance, but in truth the Emperor and his various black-ops and shadow organization controlled a lot of the Dominion behind the proverbial galaxy sized curtains.

Of course the worship of the Immortal man helped as well, as did the various cults worshiping his wife and daughter, he himself wasn't sure if the man could be considered a God, his raw psionic power was unequaled except by his wife. Yet Shawn still believed in the old god of Christ, or the former Roman catholic church, who treated the Emperor as a living saint, but still worshiped the father, the son and the holy-spirit.

His thoughts turned to this council, a ruling body made up of the three strongest races, a good idea on paper. Until you consider the fact that it led to the exploitation of the weaker races and a very convoluted political system where the three races were basically policing themselves, the so-called treaty of Firaxin, restricting the amount star-destroyer size ships the races could have, for instance was a clear political tool.

It would be clear to anybody with half a mind that these Turians were likely breaking the treaty regularly, it was mostly there to make sure that none of the minor races would dare to build up enough star-destroyers to become a threat, and the worst part was that it seemed, at least by the information in this codex, to be working all but the Batarians had given up on building these Dreadnoughts completely.

The numbers noted in this codex made no sense either, it stated that the Turians had about 100.000 ships, but for the patrols and fleet actions their duties entailed they would need twice to three times that number.

It was clear to him at least that this Council was basically a dictatorship dressed up like a democracy a council that policed itself and controlled those below them, he gave the Emperor points for admitting that he was the leader at least, no fancy words to hide who controls all the shit.

He shook his head and turned to the still raging Governess, the woman seemed most upset by the abhorrent treatment of the Quarrians, not unexpected even though she promised to only take information of the language from the admiral, a merge wasn't that selective, you would need to go through a lot of the person's life before you got to that. That kind of thing builds a bond.

"All because they accidentally created an aggressive AI! The dominion does that sometime still, and we have been making them for centuries!"

"Do we have orders from Terra yet?" Shawn turned his eyes to the hologram of Captain Markus Anderson.

"We are to try to move the Quarrians to the Sigma-Kalus-Ophius system, there is a small Dextro Agri world there, its relatively close, and we have set up a small way station so they can vent heat on the way."

"And after that?" Shawn asked, "Wait for a diplomat? These people are being chased across the galaxy by some aggressive dictators, what do we do if they come here?"

"I hope it won't come too that, but we have orders to sign a defensive pact or establish a protectorate over the Quarrians as soon as possible..." The Governess spoke up again, now calmed down a bit and having sagged into her chair.

"Really? Isn't it a bit soon to make them a protectorate, they only have about 16 million people, the Khajith had to wait until they had 10 billion people before being granted that." Shawn said, thinking of the cat-folk that made up a portion of his tank drivers.

"Its more of an emergency measure, direct orders from Terra, they think that the Quarrian race won't survive without our help, which is likely true." Alexander it seemed had finally calmed down now Pious had stopped glaring at him.

"We have a meeting on the Rayya tomorrow, I suggest we all get some rest, we have to stay alert however, if the Turians are really after them we must protect the Quarrians."

…..

 **Codexapedia:**

 **Protectorates and Terran species:**

 **During the integration of the newer Terran races, each had a different process to becoming Terran, but the formula has remained mostly the same, it starts with the Dominion meeting a new species, contact is established, a non-aggression pact is signed, then trade and mutual defense is negotiated.**

 **After a few years of living side by side, a species is made a protectorate if they have more than 10 billion people, then when their population surpasses 40 billion they have the option of joining the Dominion fully, and becoming Terrans, allowing them to buy property in the Solaris sector and the ability to Join Xcom, and the Officer core.**

 **Legions and non-human Terrans:**

 **Of course, being the most numerous of the Terran species Humans make up the nearly 80 percent of the Legionaries and naval employees, the other Terran races prefer to work in different positions, with the Khajith preferring to serve in armored Legions, or desert Legions.**

 **Twiliks and Torgrutans are more likely to join the navy, though there are some notable exception, such as the famous Terran legions which often have them as officers and heavy-weapon or melee experts, and the feared Night-Witches a purely female Viking pilot group famed for their brutality and ruthless efficiency.**

 **The Raoily are the least likely to join the army or navy, needing regular sunlight and clean water to survive, they do however sometimes work as engineers on jungle worlds.**

 **Xcom weapons and armor:**

 **As all things within Xcom the weapons used are highly customized and incredibly varied, you are unlikely to find two Xcom troopers using the same weapon, all Xcom troopers customize their arsenal with weapons ranging from shotguns that fire hyper sonic alloys to belt-fed rocket propelled grenade launchers.**

 **Xcom armor is different however, as every Xcom trooper is given a set of Titan armor he is expected to use, maintain and upgrade for as long as possible, the older an Xcom trooper is the more likely he or she is to have turned his armor into something nearly unbreakable, with dozens of tiny gallop shield generators, and layers upon layers of alloy.**

 **Some more highborn Xcom troopers even staple their medals to their armor, with the famous Valaryian Squad being the primary example, as their entire armor is covered helmet to boots in medals.**

… **..**

 **So guys how did you like the coincil in this one, I had to rewrite them like five times from first draft cause it just didn't fit, and this is the best I could do, as always fav, follow review, see you guys next time,**

 **Tombstone signing off,**


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